Learning Theory and Teaching History

Just as the demographics of the student population in our schools and the range of historical research have changed, so too should our notions about effective learning of content. There are innovative programs and individuals at the secondary and university levels that are endeavoring to integrate the new history with the latest learning theories.
From learning theorists such as John DeweyApril 30, 2007anks and Geneva Gay who write about history teachers in the secondary schools, the idea of involving learners in the process (of "doing history") has been a constant. Inquiry learning, advocated by Edwin Fenton in the late 1960s and early 1970s—from which so much of what is being done today in history education has evolved—has been reinforced by James Banks and others in the 1990s. For many years, theorist Jerome Bruner has advocated inquiry as a strong method of engaging students in learning. Students are encouraged to go "beyond the information given" and to ask their own questions and construct their own understanding. Tom Holt, in his essay, Thinking Historically, advocates the integration of thinking skills into the teaching of history, and not developed as a separate skill.The National History Standards of 1994 and 1996, which continue to be highly influential in history education, include a section called "Standards in Historical Thinking" that defines how historical thinking is best applied to teaching. The History Teacher published special issues about the original and the revised versions of the standards in 1995 and 1997, including comments by practicing teachers The Teaching Innovations column of the AHA newsmagazine, Perspectives, devoted considerable space to the standards as well, offering theoretical discussion of the value of involving students in their own learning and examples of methods tried with high school, community college, and university students.  Finally, the 1994 report of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on historical knowledge of students in grades 4–12 proposed a thematic approach to history teaching using sets of questions.
Some programs are under way that illustrate this trend. Research in the area of second-language learning and learners suggests a method that combines reading, writing, and analysis skills with content to accomplish the "outcome goals" (what students know and what they are able to do) of the new standards found in many states. The large numbers of immigrant children entering our schools in recent decades have called attention to questions about learning that had traditionally been addressed differently with English-speaking students. Because school personnel today generally place newly admitted students in classes based on age rather than English ability, limited English proficiency (LEP) students are often placed in secondary-school classes, where they must acquire both language ability and content knowledge in order to pass proficiency tests in history or government. Teaching LEP students to succeed in this academic setting involves the use of more hands-on presentation, group learning, and alternative assessment. The vocabulary and concepts so important to second-language learners are equally crucial to all history learners; the methods effective with LEP students are also found to work for all history learners. Increasing numbers of LEP students entering colleges make this information about teaching methods relevant to university teachers as well.
Innovative pedagogic methods are emerging also from the increasing computer use for research and presentation in secondary schools. Once exclusively the province of advanced placement and gifted and talented classes, computers have been routinely discovered to intrigue "regular" and special-needs students as well. Again, involving students in their own learning enhances the learning for almost all students, the only additional problem being that with computer applications, teachers often need training along with the students to become more comfortable with the possibilities for classroom use.
Research on history learning also generates opportunities for mutual discussion and experimentation by history teachers at both school and college levels. The research is not yet well connected to actual teaching practice, but the potential is significant. Researchers have examined, for example, ways in which students handle source materials, with implications for generating more rapid acquisition of relevant analytical skills. A lot of similar research is going on in Europe on this subject. The International Society of History Didactics provides a forum where educators from a great variety of countries—the United States included—and diverse academic constituencies share their work.
When all is said and done, all of the researchers who examine history learning have similar approaches: one way or another, one must involve the students. It is the "how" of this approach that often stops secondary school and college and university faculty from proceeding to make the changes they, too, believe benefit their students. Active learning is the key, but this does not have to mean that one should never lecture or never convey to students the knowledge one has gained as a historian. Rather, it means pulling the students into that process so that they learn from and with the teacher. The renewed interest among history teachers in using documents to supplement textbooks is one important response to this challenge, although the practice remains limited. A related technique that has been effective is to provide students with small parts of the story on which they can "put their own stamp." Using artifacts from an era under study has been particularly successful. Students at all levels can answer questions about "real" pieces of history (a document in its author’s original hand available from the National Archives or a local historical museum or an object such as an early coffee grinder, a mass-produced skillet, or a piece of art from Central Africa). The object introduces the time period or the theme. Students answer questions about the object’s use, its maker, or the object itself. Their answers give the teacher useful information about the students’ knowledge of the topic and provide direction for the instruction that follows. By first asking students to hypothesize about the subject they are exploring, the instructor involves them in the process of thinking historically.
Teaching in this way demands that the instructor continue to work on the craft of teaching through professional contexts. The idea of professional development originated in the public schools and has affected how schools of education work with K–12 schools. Increasingly that has led to collaboration with museums and college and university history departments.