B5233 - Laboratory (1) (LM) (G.A)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the workshop, students will be able to organise and collect complex information in a coherent way and use the tools acquired to develop project ideas relevant to the disciplines studied. They will be digitally literate and able to process, catalogue and make usable sources, metadata and scientific research results relevant to the disciplines studied, according to the principles of open science, and to promote historical memory, taking into account the specificities of the different communication, dissemination and didactic media. They will be familiar with didactic tools, including digital ones, and will develop publishing skills. They will be able to update their knowledge and research methods through opportunities for comparison and learning according to their abilities and inclinations and through the tools developed by the scientific community, using analogue and digital resources and independently consulting historiographical texts in original languages other than Italian.

Course contents

History Textbooks for Secondary Schools: Editorial Projects and Comparative Analysis

The workshop, led by Vittorio Caporella and Giovanni Isabella, has two main aims:

1) To introduce students to the editorial organization and production process involved in developing history textbooks for upper secondary schools, with particular emphasis on the professional skills required in the publishing sector.

2) To analyse, from a comparative perspective, how the same historical research topic is presented in textbooks published in different countries and by different publishers, focusing on similarities and differences.

Students may also undertake a 6-CFU internship on topics related to the workshop, either in collaboration with local schools or through specific programmes designed for students of Oriental Studies. Please contact the instructor for further information.Students are required to register for the workshop by emailing the instructor at vittorio.caporrella@unibo.it .

Readings/Bibliography

The bibliography is closely connected with the topic being compared by the students. Essays and scientific articles will be chosen by the students or by the teachers during the workshop, according to the needs of the specific themes chosen.

As a general bibliography:

- Giuliano Procacci, La memoria controversa : revisionismi, nazionalismi e fondamentalismi nei manuali di storia,
Cagliari, AM&D, 2003

- Ian Davies, Debates in History Teaching, 2° ed., Routledge, 2017

- Karel van Nieuwenhuyse, Joaquim Pires Valentim, The colonial past in history textbooks : historical and social psychological perspectives,
Charlotte, NC : Information Age Publishing, 2018.

- Giovanni Isabella, Cambio manuale. Il Medioevo visto da fuori l’Europa [http://storieinmovimento.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/StorieDiClasse.pdf], in «Branca, Branca, Branca». Ritorno al Medioevo, numero monografico di «Zapruder» 56 (2021), pp. 173-181.

- La storia è di tutti, a cura di Antonio Brusa e Luigi Cajani, Roma, Carocci, 2008

- Vito Loré; Riccardo Rao, Medioevo da manuale. Una ricognizione della storia medievale nei manuali scolastici italiani. "Reti Medievali Rivista", v. 18, n. 2, p. 305-340, dic. 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.6092/1593-2214/5353 .

- Walter Panciera, Andrea Zannini, Didattica della storia. Manuale per la formazione degli insegnanti, Milano, Mondadori Educational, 2013.

- Paolo Bernardi, Francesco Monducci, Insegnare storia. Guida alla didattica del laboratorio storico, 2. ed. aggiornata, UTET Università, 2012, pp. 332.

- Falk Pingel, L'Europa del 20. secolo nei manuali di storia, Sapere 2000, 2001.

Teaching methods

The laboratory is organized into two training activities:

a) A presentation and discussion of the process leading to the creation of a school textbook from initial design to editorial processing through the different phases: comparison with school curricula; choice of periodization; creation of indexes of volumes; documentary, historiographic, iconographic and cartographic apparatus; didactic apparatus.

This training activity will include meetings with experts from the field of school publishing.

At this stage there are planned:

1) a visit to a publishing house where will take place a training workshop;

2) a workshop with high school teachers regarding the use of the manual in the classroom.

b) Students individually or groups will select with the teachers a specific historical theme on which they will carry out a comparative analysis of two or more scholastic manuals (preferably edited in different countries). The selection of the themes and of the textbooks will take into account the study curricula / chronological paths selected by the students and known languages. The analysis will take place in form of workshops with the active participation of students and with support of the teachers. The final product of individual/group work will be in the form of a power point presentation and will be presented and discussed at a final meeting.

Assessment methods

Assessment will be based on the essay/alternative digital product as described above, on the presentation of the work during the laboratory. Will be evaluated:

1) Understanding the stages of the editorial process of creating a school textbook

2) the ability to critically analyze the various factors that contribute to the re-elaboration of a historical theme for educational purposes

3) the ability to identify, organize and collect information within the individual or group work.

In the assessment of attending students, active and regular participation in class will also be taken into account.

The pass threshold corresponds to the active participation in the laboratory meetings, the achievement of the first two points and the production of the final elaboration demonstrating critical analysis capabilities, synthesis in the organization of complex information in a coherent way.

The structure of the course is designed for classroom work based on presence and active participation, which is why it is strongly recommended the attendance.

NB: Students who are unable to attend the activity (Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending) are asked to contact the teacher before the laboratory begins to agree on an alternative and equivalent activity evaluated in an oral exam.

Teaching tools

School textbooks in paper or digital edition, beamer, slides, photocopies, presentation tools, computer laboratory.

Office hours

See the website of Vittorio Caporrella