Knowing History: A Study of the Construction and Implementation of Historical Knowledge from Theory to Practice

Abstract

Despite attempts throughout the 20th century to shift history curriculum towards disciplinary learning, the lack of lasting reform is an enduring problem in history education. My dissertation explores this problem in three studies which examine the construction and implementation of historical knowledge from theory to practice. By investigating how scholars, curriculum developers, and classroom educators define and enact historical knowledge, I trace how knowledge moves between the spheres of theory and practice. Manuscript One explores the development of conceptions of historical knowledge in England, Germany and the Netherlands, and North America. Discursive analysis highlights how academic, geographic, and historic contexts shape history education discourse through the push-and-pull relationship between scholarly ideas, public debate, and classroom curriculums. Educative curriculum materials are an influential, yet understudied, component of teaching practice heralded for the ability to instigate classroom reform. Manuscript Two reports on a content and discourse analysis of the representation of women in the Digital Inquiry Group's world history Reading Like a Historian educative curriculum. Finally, Manuscript Three investigates how preservice and novice teachers make instructional choices in their school contexts when using the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) to facilitate student-driven historical inquiry. By studying knowledge production at multiple levels, I shine a light on the agency of actors working in the field of history education to push against the structure of schooling, exposing avenues for change.