Profesorado Superior de Lenguas

Vivas N° 6007
Profesorado de Inglés
Research paper:
‘Engagement of senior
year students with the
subject History’
Student’s name: Nuria Arias
Subject: Análisis del Discurso
Científico y Técnico
–
4 “A”
Teacher: Noelia P. Tintilay
Cordeyro

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I 4
Introduction 4
Statement of the problem 7
Objectives 8
Purpose 8

Justification 9
Research questions and hypothesis 9
CHAPTER II 10
Definition of terms 10
Literature review 11
CHAPTER III 29
Methodology 29
Population and sampling 29
Instrumentation 30
Validity and reliability 30
Limitations of the study 31

Procedure and time frame 32

CHAPTER IV 33
Results’ analysis 33
CHAPTER V 60

Conclusion 60
Recommendations 63
References 65

Appendix(es) 68

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CHAPTER I

General area: Education

Title: Engagement of senior year students with the subject History

Introduction:

In every aspect of life, people can progress and evolve as individuals or as a

whole society. However, to build the steps that integrate the stairs of progression

and evolution, it is of great importance to have knowledge of the previous steps so

as not to make the same mistakes and aim to keep on going forwards. For this

reason, it is essential to see why a person or a community grows.

Concerning fields of study, there lays a purpose of enriching fields such as

medicine, education or politics with new breakthroughs, not only to discover a cure

for a disease, but also to design a new method of teaching or even a new policy to

benefit people. Consequently, as it was vital to have knowledge of the progress

and the mistakes made in the past, there is an urgent need for involving history in

every course of studies, regardless the profession people choose. This necessity

explains the fact that in schools the subject History is present as well, yet in

general terms.

Despite being essential for education to flourish and progress, there may be

a limited number of students who are interested in the contents of history. This

unfortunate fact leads this useful tool to turn into a stressful subject learnt by heart

and forgotten as time passes by. This is reflected in many children, teenagers and

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even young adults that do not even know what is commemorated in national

holidays. This situation includes the Argentinian population, because, according to

Clarin News Agency 4, out of 10 are claimed to mix up or disregard the causes for

celebrations [ CITATION nd2 \l 11274 ]. At the same time, American people were

concluded to have “a grade of 33 in 100 on the simplest and most obvious facts of

American history” [CITATION Joe07 \l 11274 ]. This comparison reflects that this

phenomenon invades all the nations.

As this situation spreads from generation to generation and gets worse

throughout the years, it is necessary to make the importance of history reborn in

education. In the case of in high schools, students must reflect about their context

and have an outlook on their lives before entering into their professional course of

studies.

The interest in history plays an important role these days, as this

problematic situation in Argentina demands people to think and struggle to find the

long term solution. Teenagers are currently undergoing these critical

circumstances and in the long run, as the next generations, senior years are to

provide a possible solution to the current and possible upcoming conflicts. In order

to seek for the solution for the future, they need to be aware of what is happening

in the present. At the same time, it is of great importance for them to know about

the background and to exercise critical thinking skills. If they are able to merge

these skills, they are more prone to analyze the past, to get insights into the

present and later become decision makers to solve the future not only as

professionals but also as electors.

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 The way history teachers deal with their subjects is important for the

potential role students will be able to perform in their adulthood. For this reason,

teachers are to take into account the way they work with the school curricula and

syllabi, their methods, the outcome of their lectures, and the significance students

attach to the content they learnt with them.

Teenagers and young adults are going to be the main audience in this

research. On the one hand, teenagers will use what they learn at school to make

decisions in the future, especially in the politics of Argentina. Their power of

decision would be mainly based on the relevance, history has in them during their

school life to build a citizen with information and consequently, with an opinion. On

the other hand, young adults are important as well, as the future that is ahead for

adolescents is where young adults are standing in the present. Their decisions on

which politicians they would choose, or which professions they would enter are

already affecting the situation in Argentina to a certain degree. However, teenagers

are in the limelight in this research as their learning within the educational system

is in progress yet, and the results of this quest are to give an insight into what

history teachers can still do to hold their students’ interest.

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Statement of the problem:

“Are high school students interested in the contents of history?”

Nowadays, the teenage society is invaded by the excess of information

provided by the internet, the pop-ups of miraculous and promising must-have

products offered through the media and a strong yearning for going through lots of

new experiences at the same time. As a result, reflections of the past seem to play

a secondary role in several teenage lives. Apparently, one of their main concerns is

to go through new experiences straightaway before the emerging of newer

experiences, products and tendencies. Therefore, most of them tend to live under

the principles of the here and now. Having said this, most adolescents are hardly

likely to record past events, or to reflect about their influence on the present time .

As teachers, this fact is hard to struggle with owing this lack of interest and this

continuing flow of tendencies that settles the past in underestimated level of

interest.

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Objectives

General objectives:

 Identify the importance of history in students’ lives

Specific objectives

 Diagnose the degree of interest students have in history classes

 Identify strategies to involve students in history contents in approaches and

methods of teaching.

 Analyze the syllabi of history itself to determine which content is the most

relevant for students.

Purpose

The main aim of the study is to remind teachers and senior students of how

crucial is to revise history contents in a meaningful way during highschool years,

especially in superior levels. This will be accomplished through the detection of the

level of interest students express in the subject and the quest for the means by

which they may feel more attracted to. Having merged these collections of

information, the aforementioned means will be adapted to the needs of learners

and to what they will show in the investigation. This work will be useful to provide

suggestions and ideas about how teachers can use the main focus of interest to

catch students' attention and make the content more significant for them.

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Justification:

This research is significant for education because it can lead teachers to

reflect about their strategies to make their content relevant and meaningful for the

students. The role teenagers take today is of extreme importance in every society,

especially in current times. Owing to the fact that they are allowed to vote at a

younger age, they started to have duties as if they were citizens and their opinion

is heard with more attention than decades ago. For this reason, education teachers

currently supply with is the key for teenage students to contribute to the

development of their country so that a great future can be ahead of it.

Hypothesis:

‘Teenagers consider the subject history uninteresting and irrelevant owing to

the irrelevance of the content or the strategies the teachers use’

Research questions:

 What are the main interests of teenagers nowadays?

 What assertions can teenagers make about the past?

 What reflections can teenagers make about their role in society in the near

future?

 Which type of learning do teachers provide with their strategy? (meaningful

or rote learning)

 To which extent do teachers encourage students to think critically?

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  During tests or production activities, which type of questions do teachers

ask? (Factual, interpretive, evaluative)

CHAPTER II

Theoretical background

Definition of terms:

Variables

It is of paramount importance to provide a definition of the terms in the

hypothesis of the research in order to understand what is stated above.

Independent variables:

Teaching strategies:

Pursuant to the educational web page of the university of Northwest,

Missouri, Teaching strategies refer to the structure, system, methods, techniques,

procedures and processes that a teacher uses during instruction.[ CITATION nwm13 \l

1034 ]

Dependent variables:

Learning history:

“Students will then be better prepared to play a role and plan for the future. They

will have a respect for the past, and know what they can do to protect and promote

their own cultures and histories. They will become good citizens. They will be

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 proud to tell the world who they are, where they come from and what they have

achieved.”[CITATION Tea03 \l 11274 ]

History as a subject:

More than a bunch of events from the past, ‘History’ is regarded as “The

study of change and development in society over time” [ CITATION SIE16 \l 1034 ] This

study enables us to understand how past actions affect the present and exert a

strong influence on the future.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Characteristics of adolescents

Senior high school students are going through middle adolescence because

their ages are between 15-17 years old. According to Newfoundland Labrador, the

majority of adolescents is developed in different ways:

 Social development: Under this perspective, teenagers tend to be

constantly catching up with the current fads and popular culture. Added to

this tendency, overreaction to ridicule, embarrassment and rejection

characterize adolescents as well. Among peers, they try to seek their

approval with attention getting behavior.

 Physical development: Adolescents suffer from hormonal changes. By the

same token, they go through restlessness, fatigue, yet they need physical

activity because of increased energy. Along with their physical aspects,

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 plenty of teenagers concern about their body and shape and go on diets or

take up physical activities. As a result, they may be physically vulnerable.

 Intellectual development: Adolescence intellectual attributes include the

capacity to move to abstract thinking, preference for active learning

experiences, interest in interaction and the ability to be self-reflective.

Moreover, they like challenges and humor, which may contain sarcasm or

irony.

 Emotional and psychological development: Teenage personality traits

involve changes of mood and the necessity to release energy. The

aforementioned points bring about behaviors such as intensity,

unpredictability and outbursts of activity.

 Moral development: Teenagers incline to judge others, yet they

acknowledge their own faults slowly. Apart from that, they are aware of the

complexity of social issues. Over against this attitude, they are impatient

with changes as they think they may happen quickly. Lastly, adolescents

tend to need an adult as a role model or an adviser.

Motivation

 Values and motivation for learners

Every process or courses of actions imply a final aim. With regard to

education, every learning process is a path that leads up to a final objective.

Behind the accomplishment of the purpose there are meaningful contents that

were acquired rather than recorded due to clear, tangible and purposeful values

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attached by students. However, this meaningful experience is not successful in all

the fields of study, especially those in which content is hardly connected to

everyday life or endless and complicated to be dealt with. The subject history

seems to be tedious and dull for students, who mostly consider it meaningless and

worthless. For this reason, it is important for teachers to place values to learners

to motivate them to work and achieve attainable and relevant goals for them. The

3 strategies to motivate and set a value for learners is the connection between the

content and the learner’s possible professions, the connection between the content

and learners’ personal interests and a set of restricted choices about topics.

First, one essential strategy to motivate students is to relate the content with

their professional lives. By stating the possible links between the content and

future professions learners can yearn for, teachers motivate and even guide the

ones who are confused to find their vocations. What is more, teachers might be

able to supply them with more details by pointing out how the skills and content will

help students after they graduate. For example, the subject history can lead

learners to aspire to be teachers of literature, political science and even social

sciences (Geography, sociology and economics). Furthermore, students can aspire

to carry out any research and target their interest in becoming journalists,

researchers and even enter the world of politics. “Instructors can enhance

motivation by linking their course content to students’ intended professions,

pointing out how the skills and knowledge students are gaining in class will help

them after they graduate” [ CITATION nd08 \l 11274 ]

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 Second, another strategy to set important values for students is the

connection between the content and students’ personal interests. Instead of giving

a professional interest to students, teachers can go deeper into the students’

emotions of personal issues. As students’ interest will trigger questions, doubts or

even quests, this kind of attachment to the content can have an impact and make

them feel eager to learn more to fulfill their personal interests. For example, history

teachers can make connections between the history of Argentina and the students’

parents or older relatives, who were first-hand witnesses of important events in the

last decades. “Based on my experiences, I define relevance as the perception that

something is interesting and worth knowing. When a teacher provides relevance

for a student, the teacher helps the student perceive these two things.” [ CITATION
Sag14 \l 11274 ]

Finally, one of the most motivating ways of setting values and motivations to

students is giving choices. At the moment of tasks that involve research such as

papers, projects or presentations, it is important for students to have a limited

degree of choice so they can become decision makers of the task and work based

on their interests and passions. However, teachers must set a restricted set of

options so as not to make them feel overwhelmed and inhibited for the excess of

alternatives. “While flexibility and choice can be motivating, it is important to

recognize that weighing and choosing among alternatives requires cognitive effort

and can create an extra burden for students” [ CITATION nd08 \l 11274 ] . For example,

students can be invited to carry out investigation projects about the history of their

families, about an important person of history or country they may be interested in.

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History

Throughout time, the way people considered history has evolved as its

definition has become more complex in the last decades. History is no longer

regarded as “a series of isolated events” [ CITATION Joh91 \l 11274 ] . One of the most

comprehensive definitions of history refers to it as “What people have done what

people have done and created in the past. It includes politics, religion, leisure and

social activities, and a day to day life” [ CITATION Wei95 \l 11274 ]

This definition shows the importance of the role people play in history. It is

vital to remember that current societies are part of history and future generations

will undergo the consequences of what their ancestors do in the present. As a

consequence, another definition can complement the main idea of history in this

research:

"History is the record of what people did or failed to do"

[ CITATION Gra92 \l 11274 ]

History content relevance

With respect to content, it is crucial to acknowledge the origins of the texts

shown in books and taught in class. As Cruise says: “The past is not discovered or

found. It is created and represented by the historian as a text” [ CITATION cru11 \l

11274 ] As this quote states, the past is written by historians, that is to say, people

that had lived in contemporary times. In addition, history is subject to the prejudices

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of the historians who write them and are rooted in the power structures of society.

[ CITATION cru11 \l 11274 ]

In this statement, the importance of the content is exposed at a higher level

as it is written by historians and influenced by their prejudices and the power

structures of the society they live in. For this reason, the textbooks read at school

not only provide with info about the past but also other people’s ideals and an

imposed version of the story. Achebe states “Until the lions have their own

historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter” [ CITATION Ach58 \l

11274 ]. When it comes to teaching history, there is a need to encourage students

to be aware of the possibility to find events described in different ways. It is up to

them, needless to say, to choose which version they will believe and account for

their decisions. As a final thought, there is a possibility to increase the relevance of

the content if teachers show that students, in the near future, can play the role of

the authors of the description of the events as well. In this way, as adult people,

learners will probably keep on writing the history of their society and be part of how

they developed. Like it is stated by David Cannadine:

“At the universities, as in the schools, the belief that history provides an

education, that it helps us understand ourselves in time, or even that it explains

something of how the present world came into being, has all but

vanished”’[ CITATION Dav87 \l 11274 ]

The importance of creativity in history

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 Creativity is a quality that everybody possesses and some people potentiate

it more than others. When it comes to history, creativity can serve as a brush to

paint pictures of different perspectives of the past and each brush-stroke is the

result of an argument, point of view or a cultural background that turn people into

artists with different outlooks on the world. According to a paper conducted by

history teachers from different universities of the United States who belong to the

Subject Centre for History, Classics and Archaeology:

“The central concern of the discipline of history is to understand how

people existed, acted and thought in the past and the societies and

cultures they inhabited. The objective of the intellectual and emotional

enterprise is to create imaginary worlds that never actually existed based

on interpretations of factual evidence and intuition”

[ CITATION Jac05 \l 11274 ]

This wonderful connection between history and creativity and the outcome

triggers are the perfect reasons for its presence in a history lesson at school, not

only because of the conclusions learners are likely to reach, but also for the

significance of the process. This exercise of thinking is liable to turn contents of

history into meaningful learning rather a mere bunch of syllabi to be learnt by heart

and easily forgotten over time. The significance of this content is important for their

future history classes, exchanging of opinions and decisions about their role as

citizens.

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 For teachers, guiding learners to turn this relation between history and

creativity is a course of actions that involves plenty of factors to consider.

Nevertheless, these factors can be summarized in mastering the ability to connect

and synthesize, using selected methods to lecture the subject and learning how to

deal with hurdles.

One important factor a teacher must bear in mind is the ability to connect

and synthesize different historical topics. This skill is grasped potentially through

activities leading to compare, contrast and gradually make further and deeper

analysis through determining a cause, effect, problem or solution of a particular

historical affair. This type of activities leads to associate different social cultures,

political ideologies, geographical factors, scientific breakthroughs or religious

influences that can be relevant to account for the happenings of the past. As this

kind of inquiry gradually spurs the learner into producing, the activity causes the

content to be more significant to prevail in the subconscious part of the mind.

Another point of great importance to succeed in teaching history by motoring

creativity is the use of methods and techniques. The methods required should be

influenced by approaches where the learner plays an active role. The humanistic

approach can be a good starting point for teachers to set the focus of the measure

they will take. As reported by a research conducted by professionals from Ryerson

University, Canada, the humanistic approach is characterized by “the emphasis on

subjective meaning, a rejection of determinism, and a concern for positive growth

rather than pathology” and the idea that “the nature of observed events can be

agreed upon by different observers” [ CITATION nd \l 11274 ]. Consequently, owing to

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its focus on the learner, subjectivity and concern for a positive growth this

approach enables learners to be producers of their own learning, Furthermore,

they can make reflections and analysis so as to build different perspectives of how

the past shaped the present.

The last factor to take into account for using creativity in history classes can

be the hurdles originated by students, teachers and even the institution itself. With

regard to the students, they are interested in lots of factors to such an extent that it

is difficult to compete against them when teaching history. Hence, it will be

challenging for teachers to give history lessons in a more meaningful way if they do

not take the most suitable measures. The learner can be hindered by their

reluctance to work, risk of failure, lack of knowledge of the subject, distraction and

lack of interest. Concerning teachers, the position of lecturing will never give place

for creativity in classes for the passive role of the learner. This is caused by a

traditional, unskilled or an unmotivated teacher with a narrow branch of methods to

dictate and evaluate the subject. However, the hurdles not only can be put by the

learner of the teacher, there are institutions in which politics or resources are

limited to a successful concretion of meaningful learning of history. Factors such as

the design of the curriculum, schedules, technology or library resources may

engender problems. Time constraints, lack of prioritization and lack of resources

are just some of the complications that teachers may encounter. Unfortunately, the

aforementioned are miles away from making improvements owing to their

hierarchical position in the institution.

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 In terms of approaches, history teachers must take into consideration

several approaches to base their lessons upon so as to take the most of the

students’ skills.

 Inquiry approach: This approach is closely related to diagnostic

assessment as it is based on students’ previous knowledge.

 Student-centered approach: Within this approach the student has the

opportunity to select the topic, the way they will deal with the task and

how they will carry it out.

Concerning methods, there are several ways of guiding the learner to originate a

hypothesis about a historical event. The methods that can stand out perfectly are

task-based learning and problem-based learning:

 Task-based learning

Pursuant to the article TBL and PBL: Two learner-centered approaches’

provided by the British Council, in task-based learning “the central focus of the

lesson is the task itself, not a grammar point or a lexical area, and the objective is

not to ‘learn the structure’ but to ‘complete the task” [ CITATION Kat13 \l 11274 ] . As a

consequence, this method focuses mostly on completing the task. There is not a

unique correct answer because the task results in a wide variety of outcomes

produced by the students. This supports the idea of the different perspectives

individuals are capable to see through to build the past and their active role as

decision makers to complete the task. Moreover, the process of task based

learning provides the learner with support, guidance and monitoring, which makes

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the learner go through a gradual gaining of independence. This is reflected in its

three stages that can be summarized in the introduction of a topic familiar to

students, the performance of the task in groups (focused on the concretion of the

task instead of accuracy) and the selection of the right language to complete the

task (focused on accuracy). To conclude, this method can be enriching for the

development of independence because it shapes the mindset of the learner and

will gradually help them to see their needs and to take responsibility for their own

learning.

 Problem based learning

The best way of learning is through making mistakes and exercising the

mind by solving problems. Concerning history, the action of trying to solve

problems leads the learner to connect ideas, transfer them, and analyze them to

find the solution or the answer. For this reason, this process, which demands

further thinking, provokes meaningful learning. In accordance with The University

of Maastricht, Netherlands, their professionals acknowledged the use of Problem-

based learning. The execution of this methodology is efficient because having

knowledge is not enough and there is an extra necessity of working independently,

being assertive and solving problems [CITATION nd1 \l 11274 ] .Concerning history, this

methodology helps the learners become responsible for their own learning through

discussions that will make them work on sharing knowledge and ideas with other

learners and formulating their own learning objectives. Moreover, discussions and

question and answer activities can lead students to express their ideas in an active

way. Consequently, they learn essential skills such as expressing their viewpoints,

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debating and working in groups through discussions. Apart from that, the presence

of the teacher will be vital as a supporter, monitor and supervisor so that the

learner can take advantage of the expertise and guidance.

Teaching history activities:

Reading and writing activities that promote understanding

Students’ understanding is stronger if the content is presented in multiple

text versions of reading materials, especially argumentative essays. Such work can

facilitate historical thinking because it can encourage students to read different

collections of written material in order to recognize inconsistencies and to compare

and contrast. As a consequence, this type of work helps them make inferences

about the content, recognize similar themes in other historical events and recall

factual information carefully. In this way, they will show that they understand

beyond a set of dates and events learnt by heart. In this way, they are more likely

to be aware of the importance of the sources of information and apply them in

different fields of study. For this reason, it is important to give students the

opportunity to do reading and writing activities to stretch their critical thinking skills.

When they read in multiple versions of writing materials they can develop a deeper

understanding of the content. However, when they are required to write essays in

different formats they are spurred to process information even more thoroughly.

These types of activities imply a combination of skills to maximize processing

information.

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 In the classroom, teachers can assign shorter constructed response

activities that require asking the students to make a claim or craft essay

assignments .

Concerning the questions teachers can design, they should require students

to do more than simply recall, repeat and copy and paste “what happened”. To

respond to the questions, it is obvious that students must do a little research and

they will go to books and internet material. The problem is when students access

to internet texts, pictures and multimedia. There is such a wide variety of sources

of information that they might feel frustrated or access to fake information. The

solution is to give them a variety of sources. The teacher can give them multiple

web pages and make sure they are trustworthy and reliable information. If the

teacher is using textbooks, provide them with extra articles joined in a single pack

of texts to complement the sources and different perspectives(not to express a

single idea)

Another exercise students can do while they are writing their essays and

answering questions is citing. Students can cite different excerpts. This activity will

urge them on doing the necessary thinking to connect the texts and their claims

The main principle of every history lesson is to engender students’ concern

on what is taught. Activities that may support essays and questionnaires can vary

from gathering historical information to analyzing data and even focus on students’

history.

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  Gathering historical information: to make them identify important

information, let students ask where they can gather more information

investigation skills and show students pick the most important and

relevant information.

 Analyzing data: learn to arrange data into sequences, timelines and

map drawings. Make lists, charts, tables and maps. Be aware of the

evidence from the past, either subjective and objective evidence.

Demonstrate to students how to identify the essential detail in a

document or fragment in the past.

 Focus on the student’s history: Try at all times to relate each topic to

the life experiences of the individual students in your class. Allow

opportunities for students to research, or present information about

their personal and family histories and ancestors and always look for

the links that exist between the topic and the individual student.

[CITATION Tea03 \l 11274 ].

Use of resources

Along with the previous activities, the use of various resources is vital for

developing a creative lesson According to Guide for teachers teaching history for

the first time unusual classroom resources are suggested by the author. The next

resources are not linked to traditional resources such as textbooks and written

records.

 Guest speakers

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  Videos, historical documentaries and Radio programs

 Artifacts, photographs, songs, dances and storytelling

 Field Trips, excursions and visits to institutions (museums and

cultural centers)

 History board games

[ CITATION Tea03 \l 11274 ]

Questions

It is said that the critical mind is a questioning mind. Therefrom, critical

thinking and questions go hand in hand, especially when it comes to history. In

most school activities, questions are present and in the aforementioned subject,

they are really powerful to foster learning. However, not every type of question is

suitable for its use in history classes.

There are some types of questions that are ideal for reading activities and

therefore, for certain moments in a history lesson: factual, interpretive and

evaluative questions. [ CITATION Que \l 1034 ]

In the first place, factual questions are answered with facts, definitions or

conceptions almost every person agrees with. Such type of questions defines

words that are unclear and clarify factual elements of the past. In history classes,

these questions can take part when a student is not familiarized with a term or

word that has another meaning in the realms of this subject. For this reason, it is

possible that most factual questions take place in at the beginning of a lesson or

everytime the learner find a new term.

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 In the second place, interpretive questions are honest and require returning

to the text hey are useful to encourage students to support their answers from the

text, and draw them into a deeper understanding of the word. In history lessons,

such questions an be useful to get a general understanding of a written material or

visual material that shows an event of the past.

In the third place, evaluative questions are the only type of questions that

permit personal opinion. For teachers of history, this type of question is important

as the students are given the opportunity to give their own opinion and account for

their answers. In this way, students are aware of how valuable is their opinion for

the teacher and even for the rest of their peers.

Furthermore, there are certain tips provided by [ CITATION Cap11 \l 1034 ] about

how to create questions and get the most of them.

Anticipated student thinking: if teachers are determined to solve the problem

or question they design, they will come across different answers. This enables

them to anticipate students’ thinking and answers. Having known the possible

answers, more questions are likely to arise. Therefore, more questions can be

anticipated with this kind of exercise.

Link to learning goals: first of all, it is important to base the goals on the

curriculum expectations and content. Once such goals are set, teachers should

relate the questions to the goals. Through this kind of questions, students are

better able to make generalizations in order to apply it to new problems in the

future.

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 Pose open questions: its use encourages a variety of approaches and

responses: The learner would be able to answer and the teacher, to detect to

which extent the students respond at their own stage of development. Moreover,

they will be able to build their self confidence as they approach a problem on their

own. Conversely, yes/no questions avoid further communication, and as a

consequence, new information will not emerge. The most probable activity with

yes/no questions will end up with a student that may respond to it correctly, yet

without understanding.

Incorporation of verbs that are part of the higher levels of Bloom’s

taxonomy: They induce students to communicate their thoughts into a deeper

understanding. As a result, they extend their learning.

Learning

Meaningful learning: As reported by Belayneh, ‘”is characterized by relating

new information to prior knowledge.  When one recalls prior knowledge, all related

information is more easily recalled.” [ CITATION Mer13 \l 11274 ]

Rote learning: ‘Rote learning frequently involves repeating information until

it is remembered. Learners often resort to rote memorization because they are

unable to relate new information to prior knowledge.’ [ CITATION Mer13 \l 11274 ]

Assessment

In terms of teaching History, teachers need to contemplate three

types of assessment in order to execute them in their class.

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 Diagnostic assessment: It refers to testing prior knowledge. Such

recollection of information is useful to make relations between what is known and

the content that will be dealt with in history classes. For instance: activities such as

brainstorming, concept mappings and question and answer sessions can expose

students’ previous knowledge.

Formative assessment: Assessment instruments used to test the

point up to which students achieve the objectives, which were set at the beginning

of a topic or unit of work. Within formative assessments, some of the activities

suggested are verbal and written activities. Oral activities such as presentations,

debates, group discussions and role plays are examples of verbal forms of

formative assessments. As regards written tests, teachers can use paragraph or

essay writings and even short answer, multiple choice and yes/no answer tests to

assess learners. To make the task more challenging, major research projects,

reports and multimedia presentations are other ways to assess.

Summative assessment: It is used to test whether students achieve

the objectives set for the units, series of topics, terms or years. Furthermore,

Quanchi states, “Such objectives may be school-based (internal) or set by an

external body” [CITATION Tea03 \l 11274 ] As a consequence, teachers have to adapt

to the content and the objectives set by people high up in the management

hierarchy.

27
CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

Population

The selection of the participants of this research was carried out according

to the educational institutions, age and the academic course of studies. The

sample groups are going to be locals of the province of Salta, Argentina.

Sampling

The procedure for determining the size of the group involved the

categorization of 3 groups of participants, which are high school students (15-18

years old), history teachers and graduated high school students (19 to 21 years

old). High school students are the focal point of this research as their interest, their

willingness to learn and the outcome of the work are the essential basis to analyze

and materialize the investigation into conclusions and possible solutions at the end

of the investigation.

The quantity of participants of each group will primarily build on the

possibilities to access to the institution and the eagerness of the participants to

provide information. However, the expected number of participants is going to be

the following ones:

High school students: 2 different schools – at least 25 per each school

History teachers: approximately from 3 to 5

28
Graduated high school students: 20

Chart Title

High school students

History teachers
Graduated students

Instrumentation

In order to accomplish an accurate analysis, make conclusions and pursue

the possible solutions for this affair, the most suitable means and instruments to do

so are questionnaires and surveys conducted with the participants of this

investigation. In this case, this questionnaire will be limited to students, graduated

high school students and history teachers in Salta.

Validity/reliability

The design of the questionnaires required a previous investigation to adapt

some questions to more specific topics and to fulfill the pursuit of the inquiry. To

land the probe on a real context, the instruments will be scored and the results will

build concepts that were probably predicted such as the conclusion and the

probable solutions.

29
 The efficiency of the instruments will depend on the formulation of the

questions, namely, whether they are understandable or misleading. Moreover, the

willingness of the participants to respond the questionnaire or the survey will affect

the results. For these reasons, the questions will be as simple as possible so as to

avoid multiple interpretations and confusions, especially for students and

graduates. Another measure to be taken is to make a summarized number of

questions to make the participant feel they can concentrate better in each question

without getting stressed or even bored. In this way, the instrument will be closer to

its mission, which is providing this research with contextualized information.

Limitations of the study

The methodology to carry out this inquiry involves limitations and even

hurdles that are not likely to damage the research and would probably restrict the

access to some pieces of information instead. Concerning limitations, the

shakedown of the participants is geographically limited to the city of Salta and the

possible boundaries to trespass can be any foreign university possible to contact.

Another limitation is the time availability of the teachers, which may affect their

concentration at the moment of responding the questionnaire as well. As regards

hierarchical limitations, the execution of this methodology relies on the willingness

of the headmaster, the teacher or other authorities of the institution to give

permission to access to a group of students. Another possible hierarchical

limitation is the contact with the authorities of the universities around the world. If

contact is not possible for policies or time constraints of the institutions, this

30
misfortune can be an important hurdle for the wider view pretended to be acquired

for an expansion of the horizons of this research.

Procedure and time frame

The research work started in April. The questionnaires and surveys are

going to be given to students, graduates and teachers in May and June. After the

concretion of the methodology, the sources of information and the answered

questionnaires were analyzed in June and determined the level of assertiveness of

the hypothesis stated at the very beginning.

31
CHAPTER IV

RESULTS’ ANALYSIS

FIRST QUESTIONNAIRE TO STUDENTS

The questionnaire was carried out to Saltenean high school students in April

and May. The questions were designed to let them express freely. In other words,

they were mapped out quantitatively. Most of the questions were open and asked

the students to account for their answers. As regards the topics, the questions

were about their interest in history, the contents that were relevant for them and

which content should be dealt with in class. In addition, they were asked to choose

the activities they would like to do and whether they voted or not.

1. Do you like history? Why?

14%

24% Yes
62% No
Sometimes

The result of this question was the fact that 62% of students like history.

This response is surprising in a positive way. However, the percentage of the ones

who do not like the subject is noticeably high. As regards students who like history,

most of their answers had to do with their interest in understanding the past. As

32
one of the students stated as an answer: “Yes, I do because it records people’s

past, how they evolved and the thoughts they had in those times”. This shows

concern on how people thought rather than the past events. Apart from that, most

of them remarked that the subject history is important for the future as well. This is

reflected in another response: “Yes, I do because it is interesting to know where

we come from, understand our present time and aspire for a better future”. The

former response is closely related to Weiner’s statement about a holistic view of

history. According to this author, history refers to “What people have done what

people have done and created in the past. It includes politics, religion, leisure and

social activities, and a day to day life.” (Weiner, 1995). The latter response

emphasizes the importance of the future and how coming societies depend on the

present ones. Conversely, 24% expressed their dislike for history. The main

reasons were the way their teacher explains and the lack of attraction for their past.

One student said “I do not like history because past events don’t call my attention”.

Similarly, only 14% claimed that they sometimes like history classes for factors

related to the previous answers. On the one hand, one of them stated “I like history

because we learn about what happened”. On the other hand, the student continued

“I don’t like it because the teacher does not explain very well”. This can be linked to

the hurdles teachers need to take into account for using creativity in the classroom.

Such avert to the teacher’s performance can be due to the learner’s hurdles

(Reluctance to work, risk of failure, lack of knowledge or distraction) or the

teacher’s (traditional teaching methods, lack of skills or demotivation).

33
 2. Specific reasons why they do not like history

5%

23%

Content
59% Criteria
Activities
13% External reasons

Of all the students, 59% regarded the content as the main reason why they

like or do not like the subject. Another high percentage is shown in the activities

(23%). However, external reasons influence only 5% of the students’ view about

history. As regards criteria, 13% gave their opinion based on it. As a conclusion,

the content and the activities affect students’ view about history. As the content is

stated in the curricula, it is not possible to change it according to the preference of

the learners. However, there can be an emphasis on some topics over others. In

terms of activities, different ones can be carried out in order to deal with the

content significantly.

34
 3. Do you think that learning history In high school is important? Why?

8%

20%

Yes
No
Some contents
72%

72% of the students are aware of the importance of history. Despite the fact

that most of them mentioned the idea of knowing the past, there were different

responses and different points of view. Some people considered its use in case

they work or travel abroad in the future. That use of history is one of the strategies

to motivate students, which is to relate the content with their future professional

lives. This involves guiding learners who are indecisive about their forthcoming

course of studies, and showing them how the skills and content will help them after

they graduate. In the same way, as it is said in the Carnegie Melon University

webpage, “Instructors can link their course content to the students’ intended

professions by pointing out how the skills and knowledge students are gaining in

class will help them after they graduate”. [ CITATION nd08 \l 11274 ]. In addition, they

remarked that this subject teaches them to express themselves and connect past

events. Learning to express oneself is one of the main consequences of working

under the principles of ‘Problem based approach’ as it implies working with

discussions, question and answer activities, independent work and objectives set

by the students themselves. Another respondent said “Yes, I do, so as not to make

35
the same mistakes of the past”. This response shows a relation to Cannadine’s

conception about history, which helps us understand ourselves in time or explains

something of how the present world came into being [ CITATION Dav87 \l 11274 ]. This

displays signs of the importance of history at a political level. Making connections

about events is another way to motivate them. In this way, the teacher can take

advantage of such interest. Moreover, one of them was aware that they were going

to use history content for elections and to understand what is happening now.

Contrary to what has been stated, 20% student agreed that learning history is

not important because they do not see the use and they do not live in the past and

think of the present. Some students said “I do not think I am going to use history

after I graduate” and some others declared “No, because I live in the here and

now, the past is gone”. In this case, the strategies of motivation and factors to take

into account to work creatively in class are the key to change their conceptions

about the subject. Finally, only 8% think that only some contents should be

prioritized.

4. Which content were relevant for you up to now?

25

20

15

10

36
 The results of this question were pretty interesting. A great concern on wars

was shown, especially the World War 1 (17%) and World War 2 (20%). What is

more, some students expressed their interest in specific aspects of WW2 such as

Nazism and the Holocaust. This absorption in these events can be due the current

situation that was part of the media at the beginning of the year: World War 3. As

The Sun headlines in one of its articles: “Could World War Three actually

happen?” Tensions between the US and North Korea are said to be the most

serious threat to world peace. [ CITATION Pat17 \l 11274 ] . WW3 was in the media and

practically all the world was talking about this possibility. This may have brought up

the previous wars and as a result, caught people’s attention and even students’.

Additionally, at a lower percentage, students mentioned the Cold War as well,

especially Pearl Harbor’s attack. Finally, the only event from ancient times that was

mentioned was the French Revolution. However, a small number of students did

not mention any content as the most relevant.

5. Which content do you think is important to study during high school?

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

37
 As it is shown in the graphic, the vast majority of students assured that

everything is important. Contrary to them, most people admitted that they do not

know what can be important to study during their high school years. However, only

a few students stated what can be important, from the history of Argentina, its last

decades to revolutions, wars and independence. As they do not have the

possibility to choose the content, it was difficult for them to answer the question.

The fact that the majority chose “Everything” and a big number chose ‘Nothing’ and

‘I don’t know’ shows the lack of knowledge of the content. When they were given

the opportunity to choose what they would like to learn they could not decide.

6. Which activities would you like to do in history?

3%
5% 3%

Videos Games
26%

Songs Drawing
64%

Novels

In this part of the questionnaire, almost all students stated that they would like

to work with videos and games. Other resources were proposed by a small number

of students, such as drawing, songs and even novels. In this way, students seem

to be attracted to multimedia activities and games. These are resources that are

proposed by Quanchi in Guide for teachers teaching history for the first time.

Videos and games appear to be the best way to motivate students to work in order

to make the content more significant.

38
39
 7. Have you ever voted? How did you vote?

Only one person voted, and most of the people who did not do so admit that

they are not ready. One of them said “I have not voted because I do not think we

are ready to vote fairly and wisely. Most teenagers are thinking about other things”.

Moreover, some of them made it clear that they are not interested in voting at all

and feel obliged. Most students are aware of how some of their social, emotional,

psychological and moral characteristics can affect their vote. The most remarkable

ones are the fact that they seek for approval, their mood changes, they judge

others and they are impatient with changes. Contrariwise, quite a few students are

interested in voting. One of the responses was “I would vote for the one I think is

best for my city.”

SECOND QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS

The questionnaire was carried out to the same students who were involved

in the previous one as they were willing to answer more questions. It was

conducted in the institution in May. The aim of this questionnaire is to reflect history

teacher’s classwork and the effect their activities have on learners. Furthermore,

some questions included teacher’s assessment and whether students regarded the

content as meaningful or not. It is important to remark that this questionnaire is

analyzed quantitatively as all the questions require matching an option.

40
When the teacher explains:

1. When the teacher explains, up yo which point do you understand?

10% 5%

28%
25% Never
Sometimes
Often
Usually
Always
33%

As it is depicted in the graphic, plenty of students chose ‘Often’ and

‘Sometimes’. This result may be a bit worrying as it represents more than half of

the respondents. However, a big number chose ‘Usually’ and ‘Always’ yet the

percentage of the aforementioned options is higher. Few people never understand

their teacher.

2. What do you do when your teacher explains?

7% 12%
7%
Take notes
Do not care
Listen and pay attention
Listen but do not uderstand

73%

This question aimed to detect students’ interest in the teacher’s lectures and

explanations. Almost all students listen and pay attention or listen and take notes.

41
A small percentage, 14% specifically, do not understand while they listen or simply

just do not pay attention. Such behavior is important to point out as it may depend

on the teacher lecture. If a few students tend to jot notes down and most of them

only pay attention, there may be some reasons such as the irrelevance of the

teachers’ explanations, lack of interest, lack of understanding of the topic, boredom

etc. This question has to do with question 10, which is about preparation for the

exams.

3. When your teachers explain what do they do?

18% 16%

Make examples with people they

know fromtheir everyday life
Relate it to the situation of the
country
Explain it without connection
66%

This question is of utmost importance as students indicated what the teacher

does to explain the topics. In this way, it is easier to see the teacher’s methods and

if students are aware of them. More than 60% of students indicated that the

teacher tends to relate the content to the current affairs of their nation. In this way,

learners are mindful that events from the past affected the present, and what is

happening now can influence their country. By the same token, a small percentage

of people added that the teacher makes examples with people they know from their

daily lives. In this case, the teachers are making use of the inquiry approach

42
because they relate the content to students’ previous knowledge of people from

their daily lives such as people they see in the media, locals and celebrities.

4. At the beginning of the year do they give you meaningful objectives?

Yes
No

Fortunately, 90% of students find the objectives set in the subject are

meaningful. Only 10% of them admitted that the objectives the teacher states are

not significant. However, because of the previous responses, objectives should

convince the learner that if they accomplish such objectives, they will be able to

use their skills in realistic contexts during their adult life.

When the teacher makes them work

5. How often do you answer questions from a text or a book chosen by your

teacher?

16

14

12

10

0
Sometimes Often Usually Always

43
 Definitely, they usually answer questions from a text or a book chosen by their

teachers. The whole class should recognize that history is written by historians and

their narration was shaped according to their own characteristics. Therefore, there

may be different version of particular events. This idea recalls Achebe’s quote:

“Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify

the hunter” [ CITATION Ach58 \l 11274 ]. The presence of the students’ centered

approach cannot be perceived as the choices of activities seem to be limited to the

book. Likewise, unless the book present activities based on Task based learning or

Problem Based Learning, the results of this question imply that students do not

solve problems, or do tasks.

6. How often do you answer questions with the possibility to choose other

books or other sources of information (videos, webpages)?

16

14

12

10

0
Never Sometimes Often Usually Always

This tendency may restrict the learner to creativity and thus the production of

their own learning. The teacher should be aware that adolescents prefer active

learning experiences, like it is stated by Newfoundland Labrador. Since they do not

often look for other sources, they do not have the chance to take the most of

activities such as Reading and writing activities that promote understanding, which

requires the learner to read different argumentative essays to make relations.

44
Thus, activities suggested by Quanchi (2008) such as gathering historical

information, analyzing data and focusing on the students’ history are not likely to

take place in history classes within the context of the respondents. Finally, if the

teacher rarely lets students work with other sources of information, they are less

liable to be exposed to the authentic resources suggested in Guide for teachers

teaching history for the first time.

7. How often do you work with articles or news related to the current situation

in your country?

30

25

20

15

10

0
Never Sometimes Often Usually Always

Barely do they work with articles or news related to current situations in the

country. Although students claimed that the teacher usually gives examples and

relate the topics to their current affairs, there is little sign of activities. In addition,

students are limited to produce or create their own story. They are less likely to

access to news and articles related to their daily lives and base their conception of

history on such material. Jackson stated that the main objective of the relation

between history and creativity is to create new worlds that never existed based on

interrogations of factual evidence and intuition [ CITATION Jac05 \l 11274 ]. They are

not able to work with history creatively because of the absence of authentic

material.

45
46
 8. How often do you make projects of investigation?

18

16

14

12

10

0
Never Sometimes Often Usually Always

Most of the students claimed that they work with projects plenty of times and

this is beneficial for learners as it is motivating. One of the strategies to motivate

students is by giving choices of the topic of the project. If they could choose the

project topics, students’ motivation to work will be surely high. As regards

teenagers’ characteristics, their most underlying social and intellectual ones would

lead them to work creatively. As for social development, adolescents like fads and

new tendencies. Consequently, they can carry out their projects innovatively. On

the subject of intellectual development, their preference for active learning

experiences spurs them on working with enthusiasm.

When the teacher tests students:

9. What are the tests about?

5% 2%

Projects
Questions about the content
Questions about the content in order
to account for your answer
Oral lessons
93%

47
 The tests mainly consist of questions about the content and only some of them

require accounting for their answers. With reference to questions about the

content, they can be considered as factual questions due to the fact that they seem

to be answered as conceptions almost everyone agrees with. However, interpretive

questions can be found in the students’ exams as well. If they are asked to support

their answer by returning to the text they worked with, more signs of own

production can be found. This type of question is more advantageous to assess

learners as it does not require rewriting historical events learnt by heart. These

types of questions were provided by Questions, an Analytical Approach for

Reading. Over and above, test questions follow one of the tips supplied by

Capacity Building series. The tip is posing open questions and by doing this, the

assessor can detect up to which point the student understood the topic genuinely.

10. How do you study history?

4%
14%
32%
They read their notes
They study by heart
They try to remember what they
saw in classes
30%
They do not study and try to do the
exam
21% They cheat

When it comes to studying, most of them read their notes. Another important

percentage of people try to remember what the teacher discussed in class and

some others study by heart. This question is related to question 2 because the

48
students’ strategies to revise are based on what they have done while the teacher

was lecturing. A small percentage took notes but most of them read them in order

to study. The vast majority indicated that they listened and paid attention to the

teachers’ lecture but a fewer percentage try to remember what they saw in class.

11. Do you consider important what you learn from history?

47%
53%
Yes
No

INTERVIEW FOR TEACHERS

1. What has motivated you to teach history?

The teachers answered that they were motivated because they wanted to know

more about how the most important historical events influenced the present times.

It is clear that their conception about history is evolving. They are mindful of the

importance of people’s role and this motivated them to learn and spread this

message to their students. Their perception of history is the same as Weiner’s:

“What people have done what people have done and created in the past.

It includes politics, religion, leisure and social activities, and a day to day life.”

(Weiner, 1995)

49
 2. Are you constantly taking more courses, investigating or inquiring about

history content?

One of them assured that is in a teacher training college and has been taking

history courses abroad. Others claimed that reading about bibliography is of great

importance and admits to doing so. Owing to the fact that they are constantly

taking courses and revising new bibliography, there are more possibilities to work

creatively, have more sources of information to work with students and discover

new methods and approaches to use in class. It is closely related to creativity of

motivation.

3. Which measures do you take to provide with a clear explanation of the topic

you are dealing with?

The respondents said their most important measures are to compare

historical events with reality to lead students to critical thinking. At the same time,

they mentioned the analysis of current situations. These activities have to do with

one of the strategies to motivate and set values on the students as well. By

connecting the content with their interests and reality, they can go deeper to

students’ emotions of personal issues. Comparing is one of the exercises used

under the problem-based approach and prepares the learner to reach a deeper

level of understanding and as a result, they are more capable of making more

complex analysis. Another approach, which is linked to these activities, is the

humanistic approach for its concern for positive growth rather than pathology.

Analyzing and comparing focus on the learner’s subjective meaning and leads

them to use what they know to complete the task.

50
 4. Do you consider different techniques or approaches to make students study

the content?

Teachers claimed that they use students’ previous knowledge. Moreover, they

added that the way they decide on the activities depends on the group, as there

are some students that lack reading comprehension skills. It is shown that they do

whatever is possible to motivate students. They take motivation into account. As

they place values on learners and lead them to achieve attainable goals for them.

Attainable goals make capable students, and if the learners feel capable, they will

feel motivated. Teachers consider the hurdles put by the learner and try to deal

with them, which are can be lack of exercises of the skills.

5. How do you assess students?

Respondents claimed they assess through questions that involve relating

among events to avoid studying by heart. It is related to the summative

assessment, to test them whether they achieved the objectives set by the

institution. Other comments involve analysis of cases through written activities and

oral presentations. In this activity, there is a sign of formative assessment as there

is an analysis of cases, which forces them to use the knowledge they acquired to

analyze. Above all, the responses reflected the ideals of the diagnostic

assessment, as they test their prior knowledge and recollect information to make

relation between what is known and the content.

51
 6. In which way do you think that history can enrich students’ lives in the near

future?

All respondents declared that history enables students to know reality and

understand it from different points of view (society, politics and economy). They

follow Cannadine’s conception of history, which provides an education and helps

us understand ourselves in time [ CITATION Dav87 \l 11274 ]. Furthermore, their

response matched to the view of learning history at different levels such as social,

political, religious among others.

UNDERGRADUATED STUDENTS’ SURVEY

This survey was carried out to young adults who have graduated from

Secondary School some years ago. Their view about learning history on their teens

is of extreme importance as they show the consequences of history classes

nowadays. With this survey, it will be proved that this problem does not come from

scratch and it is a situation that needs a change for adolescents of these times.

1. Did you like history?

12% 8%

16%

Nothing
A bit
36% Pretty much
Very much
28% A lot

52
 A high percentage of people used to like History in their high school years.

2. How much do you remember from History?

5% 9%
18%

Nothing
36% A bit
Pretty much
Very much
32% A lot

Few people remember History content and a pretty high percentage of the

respondents answered ‘A bit’ and ‘Pretty much’.

3. How meaningful was History for you during high school?

12% 16%

Nothing
A bit
32% 24%
Pretty much
Very much
A lot
16%

32% of respondents considered History as a very much meaningful subject.

However, most people answered ‘Nothing’ and ‘A bit’.

53
 4. How meaningful is History to give your opinion about your country current

affairs?

4% 4%

32%
20%
Nothing
A bit
Pretty much
Very much
A lot
40%

The vast majority of people acknowledged the importance of history.

Most of the respondents used to like history in their high school years, yet

there are few people who remember the content. This phenomenon could be

originated because some topics and realms of study are more significant for them

on these days. Plus, they may have not applied their knowledge of history in their

own lives. A lot of them did not consider History as significant in those times. This

may happened because of the objectives set by the teacher were not clearly

stated or significant for them. This can be the reason why most respondents fail to

recall history content learnt at high school. Despite that, almost all of them

considered history as an important tool to understand and talk about current events

that are exerting a strong influence on their nation.

All in all, they are aware of the importance of history. However, during their

adolescence, they could not appreciate the value of learning history. As a result,

54
they cannot provide an opinion based on the content learnt at school. Having

discovered that, it is high time this current generation of high school students

attached a value to history so as not to end up like the young adults of today

STUDENTS’ HISTORY FOLDER

There was the possibility to investigate on one student’s history folder. This

is an important document because it reflects the students’ classwork and

homework. As a result, it is clear to see the teacher’s activities and the execution of

them as well. The folder was analyzed in terms of questions, activities, charts and

extra activities.

As regards questions, there are open questions such as ‘Why?’, ‘How?’ and

‘Which?’. They ask students to recall reasons, strategies or situations. For

instance, some of the questions were: ‘Why did WW1 start?’. Such questions lead

students to mention terms such as Militarism, Imperialism and Alliances instead of

retelling information from the text. Another question was ‘How the USSR emerged?

How was its economic politics?’. The students answered the first question by only

mentioning the Russian Revolution. As regards the second question, they provided

a detailed explanation. Some questions stretched students’ analytical skills

because they provided with answers. Most questions were interpretive and made

them return to the text and write ideas instead of rewrite their book. Conversely,

there are not any evaluative questions. This fact limits the learner to account for

their answers and create their own reality based on the factual information. .

55
 In students’ folder, the most underlying activities are based on instructions

rather than questions. Most instructions include verbs such as ‘explain’ or ‘make’.

Despite that, students follow the instructions but they only rewrite what is on their

textbooks. The incorporation of verbs from higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy is

important in the instructions. The teacher used the verb ‘explain’, which is part of

the highest levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. However, it did not reflect students’

understanding. The problem was a limited source of information and the instruction

itself. If the teacher had given instructions like ‘Explain the political, economic and

social aspects of Soviet Totalitarianism’ instead of ‘Explain the Soviet

Totalitarianism’, students would have given meaningful answers. If students were

given the opportunity to base their answers on their own research, they would have

answered them in a significant way.

However, some instructions commanded students to draw charts. In this

part, their own production can be seen as students could connect ideas in simple

words or sentences instead of rewritten paragraphs or texts. For instance, one of

the instructions was ‘Explain the Russian Revolution in a chart by considering

antecedents, the Tsar’s Fall and the emerge of the first communist state.’ This

instruction is very clear and gives free choice to students. As adolescents are

active learners, they could create their own conception of the Russian Revolution

based on factual information. On top of that, the teacher guided the learner by

mentioning key aspects of the historical event. With guidance and freedom to

construct learning, the student will take responsibility for their own learning.

56
 Some activities are about investigation. For example, they were asked to

investigate about the Holocaust and World War 1. Nevertheless, although they

were given the opportunity to bring any piece of information, they only wrote some

sentences about extra information. Some concern can be given on the hurdles put

by students. Their reluctance to provide an authentic piece of information can be

the consequence of their lack of interest, demotivation, lack of skills or lack of

knowledge about the subject.

At the beginning of this quest, the conception of history from the point of

view of adolescents and teachers was a hypothesis and speculations supported by

the literature review. The research questions guided this research to analyze the

most relevant aspects of the two subjects. Having investigated in a realistic

context, the results of this quest showed the reality of history according to

adolescents and teachers.

Nowadays, adolescents are interested in fads. As it was mentioned in

Newsfoundland Labrador, their main social concerns are catching up with popular

culture and interacting with peers. As regards the questionnaires, they reflected

adolescents’ preference for videos, games and even music. Teachers can take

advantage of their interests. As regards assertions about the past, teenagers are

unwilling to even bring up the past. Most of them express a rejection to the past,

since they only value the present. They live under the principles of the here and

now. Contrariwise, some adolescents remarked the importance of history but it is

not enough to attach their interest on the topic. In addition, half of the students,

who answered the questions, recognize the importance of history but admit that

57
they do not find the subject interesting. In terms of their role in society, in the near

future, they are conscious of their future role as citizens. They are going to decide

on the fate of their nation through their vote yet think they are not ready to make

important decisions about their country. Therefore, some of them even complained

about their duty but are conscious that they ought to vote.

On the subject of teaching, the type of learning that the teacher mainly

provides is rote-learning. However, this fact is not the teachers’ fault; there are

plenty of hurdles that originated rote learning in the class. Lots of students set the

hurdles for their lack of interest. This may be due to their preference to other topics

as it was mentioned before. Over and above, through the questionnaire, it was

clear that during class students only listened to the teacher and they often

understand the explanations. When they are tested most of them try to revise

notes. Such notes are mainly based on the activities the teacher assigns because

a small percentage (12%) takes notes when the teacher is lecturing. The majority

of the activities is based on questions and instructions that do not require a deep

analysis of the topics. Eventually, a big percentage of people tend to read notes

(32%) and study from memory (21%). As a result, rote learning is the learning

experience that students go through. For this reason, the hurdles can be originated

by the teachers as well. Some respondents expressed their attraction about the

subject but their teacher does not hold their interest. Some activities shown in the

student’s folder are traditional. There are no signs of the Humanistic Approach,

Problem-Based or Task Based Approach. Only some activities exercised student’s

capacity to analyze such as charts and a few questions. Some questions were

58
considered as ‘factual’ as they were answered as if it was a general truth for

everyone. In contrast, some ‘interpretive’ questions were found and most of them

were answered successfully by the learner. Over against this advantage, there is

still much to do to hold students’ interest and leave aside traditional methods of

question and answer activities that only require the learner to recall what is on their

textbooks. It is high time they started constructing their own conception of history

and account for it with their own ideas and factual information.

59
CHAPTER V

Conclusion

In conclusion, as it was stated in the hypothesis, plenty of adolescents find

the subject History irrelevant for the tediousness of the content. However, the

discovery through this research was more complex. The subject is tedious for them

on the grounds of traditional methods, lack of connection to reality and

assessment.

First, students stated they found History tedious because of the teacher.

Plenty of assignments do not offer the opportunity to express themselves or play

an active role in their own learning experience. Each assignment was mainly based

on questions that did not require any inquiry in its totality. However open questions

appear to be, students do not answer them significantly. Instead, it is reflected on

the sample folder how they copy chapter and verse from their textbooks. Only a

small percentage of questions were answered with their interpretation of the

textbook, which is more meaningful. Conversely, activities are too teacher-centered

and ergo, they are too traditional for these contemporary times. Nowadays,

adolescents are constantly exposed to several sources of information and they

play more important role in this society. It is important to give them the chance to

play their role and make use of such exposure.

Second, students find History difficult owing to assessment. In students’

survey and the sample folder, it is depicted that only some types of assessment

prevail in the students’ work. Diagnostic assessment is used as the teacher makes

60
use of students’ prior knowledge to ensure a better understanding of the topic.

However, the assessment does not seem to be formative as there are no signs of a

procedural way of evaluating the learners’ understanding. The main proof of its

absence is the way students prepare for an exam and the way they answer the

questions. Few of them admitted that they remember the teacher’s explanations in

class and most of them revise their notes. At the same time, notes are answers

based on the traditional teaching methods provided by the instructor. Apart from

that, tests primarily contain questions about the content without further explanation

of it. As a result, this way to assess learners can originate rote learning because in

the day of the exam, the learner would end up writing historical events instead of

explaining them.

Finally, students find it useless to study history as they think it is not linked

to reality. The teacher explains and mentions people they know and the current

situation in Argentina. Such measure is good to represent reality within the class

context. Notwithstanding real life explanations, students do not go through learning

experiences in which they interact with the real world on their own. For this reason,

they disregard the connection between content and their reality. They need

activities that connect the knowledge they acquire about the content and the

possible situations in which they are going to use their skills. A large number of

students suggested situations in which they are going to use the content outside

the classroom.

The problem was whether students were interested in History contents.

Plenty of adolescents expressed that they have the obligation to have knowledge

61
of it, but they find it boring for internal reasons, for example their interests and

external reasons related to the teacher or the content.

Despite the fact that they are not enthusiastic with the idea of voting and

deciding on their nation, adolescents admit that it is a duty. On top of that, they

show different skills and most of them still acknowledge the importance of studying

history. Hence, adolescents’ attitude can raise teachers’ hopes to provide

meaningful learning. In other words, there are possibilities to change adolescents’

opinion about history.

As for teachers, the respondents of the interviews adapt to the students’

prior knowledge to get the most of them and deal with some skills that are not fully

developed, like reading comprehension, compare and contrast or analyze. The

conception about history is not lost. In fact, it is evolving and getting more

significant. As teachers keep on studying and taking courses, they have knowledge

of how this conception developed and it is up to them to bring this new conception

to the classroom. Some adolescents seem to be aware of this new concept. It is

high time they reach a deeper level of understanding in class to apply history in

reality. Young adults recognize this concept but could not discover it before they

became citizens. There is still time to encourage learners to be critical thinkers and

create their own reality based on facts in order to bring history to life, and be part of

history of their contemporary times.

62
Recommendations

With all the literature reviewed, some recommendations are presented to

enhance teenagers’ learning experience in the realms of History. Apart from that,

such suggestions are contextualized in high schools from Salta, Argentina.

The advantage of contemporary approaches

It is important to work under the main principles of the approaches from the

literature review, especially the humanistic approach and student-centered

approach. Like the humanistic approach, taking into account the students’ cognitive

growth rather than their ‘pathology’ is of extreme importance. In this way, the

learners will focus on their progress and will acquire knowledge progressively and

be aware of such process of learning. As regards student- centered approach,

students need a variety of choices in order to feel free to work and more motivated

to produce. However, it is important to limit the range of options so as not to

overwhelm students. For example, if students are to carry out a project of

investigation, they can be given a number of topics to choose and a limited number

of sources of information. Apart from the aforementioned approaches, some others

can be taken into consideration.

Written activities based on different types of questions

Teachers can encourage students to do reading and writing activities.

Reading activities involve reading different types of articles and essays related to

the current affairs of the world and compare them with the historical content they

are dealing with. Writing activities, instead, implies explanation of different aspects

63
of the historical events rather than the event itself as well as comparison and

contrast essays.

Different types of questions in each part of the learning process

Along the three types of questions, the teacher can use the three types of

questions provided by (). Factual questions can be used to define terms that are

not familiar to students. Interpretive questions can help students account for their

answers by using sources of information such as textbooks, webpages or

documentaries. Having knowledge of the new terms and the content, evaluative

questions finally enable the students to give their opinion and account for their

answer.

Students’ main interests and characteristics

Students who answered the survey showed a great concern in activities

based on videos, games and songs. Having said this, teachers must consider

these means to catch students’ attention. Likewise, they need to take account of

adolescents’ main developments to design the activities according to their

strongest characteristics. If teachers merge their favorite activities and strongest

skills, a significant learning experience is assured. For example, as regards

adolescents’ intellectual development, teenagers are liable to enjoy activities that

imply taking decisions, abstract thinking and interaction. If teachers think about

this, plenty of activities can be based on video activities with follow-up questions,

board games about history or listening to songs about events or important people

from history.

64
Formative and Summative assessment

Formative assessment should be the core assessment in history classes.

The teacher is suggested to evaluate students by giving them questions to revise

different contents, and make connections among them. This process can take

place every class in order to raise students’ awareness about their progress. These

questions and connections can be made in oral activities such as debates,

presentations and even group activities that will foster interaction among peers. In

terms of summative assessment, it may be present at the end of each unit in order

to provide the learners with a result of all the work they had done during the unit of

work. Along with summative assessment, clear objectives are extremely necessary

as well. The learner should know the objectives, be conscious of progress and

realize when the objective is accomplished.

65
References

(2011 ). Capacity Building Series . Ontario.

nwmissouri. (2013). Retrieved from Northwest Missouri State University:

https://www.nwmissouri.edu/education/peu/MEGA/mopta.htm

Achebe, C. (1958). Things fall apart.

Belayneh, M. (2013, October 17). http://edtheory.blogspot.com.ar. Retrieved from

http://edtheory.blogspot.com.ar/2013/10/rote-vs-meaningful-learning.html

Bilsborough, K. (2013, August ). teachingenglish.org. Retrieved from

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/tbl-pbl-two-learner-centred-approaches

Briggs, S. (2014, October 4). .opencolleges.edu. Retrieved from

http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/how-to-make-learning-relevant/

Cannadine, D. (1987).

Cruise, I. (2011, October 14). To call attention to the teaching of history in schools. London.

Duck, J. (2007, September 28). blog4history.com. Retrieved September 2016, from

http://www.blog4history.com/2007/09/is-students-lack-of-history-knowledge-a-
reflection-of-todays-society/

Ebert, J. a. (1991).

Graves. (1992).

Jackson, N. (2005, April). Subject perspectives on creativity in higher education. Retrieved from
http://www.creativeacademic.uk/uploads/1/3/5/4/13542890/creativity_in_history.pdf

Labrador, N. (n.d.).

Mazibuko, E. Z. (2008). Developments in History teaching at Secondary school level in Swaziland:

Lessons from classroom research. University of Swaziland .

n.d. (n.d.). Clarin .

n.d. (2008). www.cmu.edu. (C. M. University, Producer) Retrieved from

https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/solveproblem/strat-lackmotivation/lackmotivation-
01.html

n.d. (n.d.). http://www.ryerson.ca. Retrieved from

http://www.ryerson.ca/~glassman/humanist.html

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n.d. (n.d.). maastrichtuniversity.n. Retrieved from
https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/education/why-um/problem-based-learning

Patrick Knox, N. B. (2017 , October 31). The Sun . Retrieved from

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2070034/ww3-world-war-three-north-korea-nuclear-
weapon-apocalypse-donald-trump-latest/

Quanchi. (2003). Teaching History: A guide for teachers teaching history for the first time.
Brisbane: Max Quanchi and Asofoo So'o.

Questions, an Analytical Approach for Reading. (n.d.).

SIEBÖRGER, R. (2016, January 21). Public History Weekly . Retrieved from https://public-history-
weekly.degruyter.com/4-2016-1/defining-history-school-subject/

Weiner, R. G. (1995). History: Teaching and Methods . Texas .

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Appendix(es)

68
Questionnaire for history teachers

1. ¿Qué lo motivó y qué le motiva enseñar historia?

2. ¿Constantemente se capacita en la enseñanza de la historia ya sea con

cursos, talleres, seminarios o voluntariamente (lectura de materiales,

investigación sobre algún tema en particular)?

3. ¿Qué medidas toma para garantizar una mejor explicación del tema

abordado (ejemplos, relacionar con la situación en el país)?

4. ¿Consideran formas diferentes de enseñar y hacerlos trabajar con el

contenido?

5. ¿Cómo evalúa a sus alumnos?

6. ¿De qué forma piensa que la historia puede enriquecer la vida del alumno

en el futuro?

Survey for students

 Cuando tu profesor enseña

 Cuando explica un tema vos
Nad Poc Más Much
entendes:
a o o o
meno
s
 Cuando explica vos:
o Tomas nota
o No le das importancia
o Solo lo escuchas pero atentamente

69
 o Otros: _________________________________
 Cuando tu profesor explica:
o Hace ejemplos con chicos del curso o gente que ustedes
conocen y tratan cotidianamente
o Lo relaciona con la situación del país
o Te explica sin relacionarlo con nada más que el tema
abordado
 A principio de año, ¿Les dice objetivos significativos para vos?
o Si
o No

 Cuando tu profesor te hace trabajar:

Nunca A De vez Mucha Siempre

veces en s veces
cuand
o
o Responden preguntas con un texto o
libro elegido por el profesor
o Responden preguntas pero pueden
buscar de otros libros, videos, o
páginas de internet
o Trabajan con artículos o noticias
relacionados con la situación actual
o reciente del país
o Hacen proyectos de investigación

 Cuando tu profesor te evalúa

 Sus evaluaciones son:
o Proyectos

70
 o Preguntas sobre el contenido visto
o Preguntas para responder a base de una opinión propia y
fundamentación
o Otros: _________________________________
 ¿Cómo estudias historia? (se puede seleccionar más de uno)
o Leo mis apuntes
o Trato de memorizar lo más que pueda de los textos sadness
o Me acuerdo de lo que más me quedó de las clases
o No estudio, veo si puedo responder las preguntas
o No estudio, hago trampa
o Otros: _________________________________
 ¿Pensas que podes usar lo que aprendiste fuera de la escuela?
o Si
o No

Questionnaire for graduated students:

Nada Poco Más o Bastante muchísimo

menos
¿Qué tanto te gustaba la materia
historia?

¿Qué tanto te acordas de lo que

viste en historia?
¿Cuán significativa te pareció historia
en la secundaria?
¿Cuán significativa te parece historia
a la hora de opinar sobre la situación
actual de nuestro país?

Questionnaire for students

71
1. ¿Te gusta historia? ¿Por qué?

2. Te gusta o no te gusta historia por…

El contenido
El criterio del docente
Las actividades
Razones externas al contenido (horario de clases, frecuencia de clases etc.)
3. ¿Crees que aprender historia durante la secundaria es importante? ¿Por qué?

4. ¿Qué contenidos crees que son importantes para aprender historia?

5. ¿Qué contenidos te parecieron los más relevantes hasta ahora?

6. ¿Qué actividades te gustaría hacer en la hora de historia?

Videos, películas, videoclips etc.
Juegos
Canciones
Otros.
______________________________________________________________

72