As in many other social science disciplines, mixed methods and triangulation are gaining importance in history education research. Nevertheless, in this discipline there is also a prevailing lack of theoretical and methodological reflection about method integration. With this article, we wish to stimulate the methodological debate regarding this issue within the community of history education researchers and to strengthen the research profile of the discipline. We start by presenting lines of discussion regarding adequate research methods for the investigation of different types of social phenomena. Thereafter, we show how the 'paradigm wars' in social research were mitigated by the development of integrative concepts such as triangulation and mixed methods. Then we focus on current developments in history education research in German-speaking countries. Finally, we give a brief overview on international research into history teachers' beliefs, thereby addressing specific challenges for the application of triangulation or mixed methods in our discipline.
The purpose of history education in Austria has changed over at least the last decade. While the focus used to be to give students a master narrative of the national past based on positivist knowledge, the current objective of history education is to foster historical thinking processes that enable students to form transferable skills in the self-reflected handling and creation of history. A key factor in fostering historical thinking is the appropriation of learning tasks. This case study measures the complexity of learning tasks in Austrian history textbooks as one important aspect of their quality. It makes use of three different approaches to complexity to triangulate the notion: general task complexity (GTC), general linguistic complexity (GLC), and domain-specific task complexity (DTC). The question is which findings can be offered by the specific strengths and limitations of the different methodological approaches to give new insights into the study of task complexity in the domain of history education research. By pursuing multidisciplinary approaches in a triangulating way, the case study opens up new prospects for this field. Besides offering new insights on measuring the complexity of learning tasks, the study illustrates the need for further research in this fieldnot only related to the development of analytical frameworks, but also regarding the notion of complexity in the context of historical learning itself.
In diesem Band wird ein Ansatz vorgestellt, nach dem der Fächerkanon einer allgemeinbildenden Sekundarstufe I nicht als unverbundene Addition historisch gewachsener, kontingenter und austauschbarer Fächer gesehen werden soll, sondern als sinnvoller Denk- und Handlungszusammenhang. Der fachliche Kern der Fächer, bestehend aus Konzepten und Prozeduren, wird dabei in den Mittelpunkt gerückt. Jedes Fach kann einen unersetzbaren Beitrag zu reflexiver Grundbildung im Sinne eines tiefenstrukturell angelegten Orientierungswissens liefern. Dies wird an vielen Beispielen aufgezeigt. Die Beziehungen der Fächer zueinander ergeben ein Fächerstrukturkonzept. Dieses soll dazu dienen, die angestrebte fachspezifische Kompetenzentwicklung der Schülerinnen und Schüler im Kontext einer Schul- und Unterrichtsentwicklung im Fächerdialog ebenso zu unterstützen wie den Aufbau von nachhaltigen fachlichen Wissensstrukturen. Dieser Band richtet sich damit an Lehrende, Lehramtsstudierende und alle im Umfeld von Bildung tätigen Personen.
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