Effectiveness of a teaching methodology based on the theory of historical thinking through active methods and digital resources in Spanish adolescents

Abstract

Twenty-first century education is firmly committed to training young people in new competencies that are transferable to a variety of life situations. Historical thinking as a methodological theory is emerging in a large number of countries. In thinking historically, the skills of the historians are used, so that the sources of the past can be interpreted and the generation of effective historical narratives can be enhanced. This study aims to compare the general perception of the teaching of history between two groups of baccalaureate students, with respect to the effectiveness and transferability of learning historical thinking. Specifically, the existing perception of the implementation of historical thinking competencies is collected after the pre- and post-evaluation of a unit plan developed with 93 students. A quantitative method was used, namely a quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent control group. The results indicate a substantial improvement in the responses observed in the experimental group, compared to those obtained in the control group. This impact is associated with the didactic methodology implemented with both groups, which showed notable changes in the perception of the theory of historical thinking, as well as in the use of other digital resources and active methods. For the future, it is imperative to transfer these first indications to controlled evaluations of academic outcomes to consolidate the academic status of competency-based teaching in secondary education levels.

Luces y sombras de la relevancia histórica según el tipo de actividad: diseño de una propuesta de descriptores para la optimización de la evaluación

“…Sin perjuicio de las influencias europeas, anglosajonas y lusófonas, el pensamiento histórico está consolidando una cultura de trabajo teórico-práctico en España, ofreciendo al conjunto de los jóvenes las herramientas del historiador, de manera que se generan -desde abajo-sociedades más cultas, reflexivas y democráticas, capaces de modernizar la enseñanza de la historia (López-García, 2023). Como apunta Domínguez (2016), en un mundo tan informatizado como el actual, es más coherente tratar de medir el conocimiento adquirido por el alumnado evaluando las competencias adquiridas, en lugar de evaluar el conocimiento memorizado a través de pruebas objetivas (como los tradicionales exámenes).…”

Perception versus Historical Knowledge in Baccalaureate: A Comparative Study Mediated by Augmented Reality and Historical Thinking

“…This framework has been adapted and perfected, adopting the ideas set out in the work of its main proponent in the 21st century, Peter Seixas [8]. In Spain, the work of the Red 14 de Investigación en Enseñanza de las Ciencias Sociales, which brings together the most prestigious research groups in the sector, has also made a decisive contribution to consolidating this trend [9][10][11][12][13][14], including systematic review studies [15] and bibliometric analyses [16].…”