10814 - Teaching of History (1)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will be able to identify the basic fundamentals of teaching and educational research according to the main methods and educational planning technologies, and according to a general approach to participated instructional planning and for skills, also with reference to specific disciplines consistent with recruitment fields. They will be able to apply the main teaching-learning methods in the secondary school, including the active learning and transmedia ones, in a perspective of educational experimentation which privileges the analysis of the techniques and of the learning technologies in the scholastic field; they will be able to deal with digital technologies, medial education and e-learning; they will learn the dynamics of education and social media; they will be able to evaluate knowledge and school returns (evaluation of the product, of the process, of the system).

Course contents

The “History Didactics” course focuses on the conditions required to enable the shift from the academic study of history to its transposal into a teaching context. Starting with a broad historical-sociological overview of the public dissemination of history and the way history teaching has evolved as education systems have been transformed, both in Italy and in Europe, the course will address the main epistemological, cultural and linguistic aspects involved in teaching the subject in a contemporary context.

The individual course modules aim to develop a conscious relationship with the legal framework of the teacher’s mission and with the key methods involved in producing teaching plans for a wide range of situations. The aim is to provide future teachers with the appropriate theoretical and methodological tools needed to interpret the curriculum independently, plan teaching segments, advance the interests of diverse target audiences, stimulate attention and participation, and assess learning outcomes.

The pedagogical and civic challenges involved in teaching history in schools will be addressed, on the one hand, by referring to contemporary debates – the didactics of colonialism and neo-colonialism, social conflict and contemporary nationalisms and genocides – and on the other, through practical exercises involving case studies for group evaluation and discussion.

The course will be divided up into the following 4 modules (for which the duration is provided as a guideline):
 

a) Historical knowledge and society (6 hours).

Status and social role of history. Expressions and determinants of historical awareness and historical culture. Organisation of historical knowledge: chronology and periodisation. Link between academic research and transposal into the public/didactic sphere.
The history-memory dialectic. Collective memory: political and legal appropriations. Contemporary trends in communicating history. The Public History phenomenon.

b) History in schools (12 hours).

International trends and specificity of educational traditions in Italy. History teaching: Nation-building and "national narrative". "New history" and crisis of institutional models in Europe. European integration and international initiatives to align the curricula.

Current points of tension: debate and reform of teaching objectives and methods. The legal framework: national indications and school autonomy. Evolution of the curriculum and educational objectives, from individualisation to socialisation. Global history and geohistory. History and civic education.

c) Teaching methods: problems and practice (6 hours).

History with regard to the specificity of scholastic knowledge. Scholastic organisation of knowledge.
The teacher's tools in perspective: genesis, theory and criticism of the curriculum. Origins and role of the text book.
From teaching plan to assessment: theoretical approaches, tools and procedures, new technologies.

d) Proposals for teaching procedures and practical exercises (6 hours)

Didactic use of place and testimony. Territory and social context as resources.
The concept of the history laboratory. Didactic functions of sources and archives. Audiovisual and online resources.
Teaching and "sensitive issues".
Practical demonstrations, discussions and exercises for attending students.

Readings/Bibliography

Part a)

- Marc BLOCH, Apologia della storia, Torino, Einaudi, 1981.

- François HARTOG, Regimi di storicità, Palermo, Sellerio, 2007.

- Reinhart KOSELLEK, Storia. La formazione del concetto moderno, CLUEB, 2009.

- Pierre NORA, Come si manipola la memoria, editrice La scuola, 2016.

- Pierre NORA, Entre mémoire et histoire in Les lieux de mémoire.

- Enzo TRAVERSO, Il passato, istruzioni per l'uso. Storia, memoria, politica. Verona, Ombre corte, 2006.

- Eviatar ZERUBAVEL, Mappe del tempo: memoria collettiva e costruzione sociale del passato, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2005.

Part b)

· Antonio BRUSA, Luigi CAJANI (a cura di), La storia è di tutti, Roma, Carocci, 2008.

· Valentina COLOMBI et al., I linguaggi della contemporaneità: una didattica digitale per la storia, Bologna, il Mulino, 2018.

· Luigi CAJANI, L'insegnamento della storia mondiale nella scuola secondaria: appunti per un dibattito in "Dimensioni e problemi della ricerca storica", 2, 2004.

· F. MONDUCCI, Insegnare storia. Il laboratorio storico e altre pratiche attive, 3a ed., Torino, UTET Università, 2018.

- Walter PANCIERA, Andrea ZANNINI, Didattica della storia. Manuale per la formazione degli insegnanti, 3. ed. aggiornata, Firenze-Milano, Le Monnier Università-Mondadori Education, 2013 (basic text, compulsory).

· Maila PENTUCCI, Come da manuale. La trasposizione didattica nei contesti d'insegnamento-apprendimento, Junior, 2018.

- Maurizio RIDOLFI, Verso la Public History, Pisa, Pacini editore, 2017.

Part c)

Debates in History Teaching (ed. Ian Davies), Routledge, 2010

The Palgrave Handbook of State-Sponsored History After 1945 (ed. B. Bevernage e N. Wouters) Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.

Facing - Mapping - Bridging diversity. Foundation of a European Discourse on History Education (ed E. Erdmann e W. Hasberg), Wochenschau Vorlag, 2011.

NB: Complementary bibliography and suggestions for further study will be provided during the course in Italian, French and English. A personalised bibliography may be accepted, in special cases, subject to discussion with the tutor.

Teaching methods

Lectures, which may be accompanied by slides and dossiers prepared by the tutor. Lessons will include group discussions of topics that may also be suggested by students.

Individual and group analysis of historical writing, teaching tools, written and oral sources. Projection of written, audio and video documentation. Meetings with external guests, group analysis.

Assessment methods

End-of-course assessment will aim to ascertain the student’s acquisition of:

a) an awareness of the different roles of historical knowledge in society, and in particular the genesis of a school canon of national history, and its current crisis;
b) a proper understanding of the didactic transfer of historical knowledge and of the main problems involved in dealing with different target audiences;
c) familiarity with the theoretical debate around the teaching of history and the main teaching methods; the ability to consciously select and develop them.

For attending students (a list will be drawn up in the first week of the course), the test will consist of a written test comprising four open-ended questions relating to the key themes of the course, and an oral test. Only students who have obtained a minimum of 18/30 in the written test will be admitted to the oral test. Assessment of the written test will consider the extent to which the concepts examined during the course have been correctly and critically assimilated, along with the ability to use appropriate language and outline a relevant teaching plan. Students admitted to the interview will be examined on a text chosen freely from Part a) and on the Panciera-Zannini text. The final grade will be the arithmetical average of the grades achieved in the written and oral tests.

For those not attending, the exam will comprise an oral test only. The discussion will focus on a text chosen freely from group a) and two from group b). One of them may be replaced by a work in English from group c).

In both cases, the test will assess:

- Familiarity with and proper command of the contents of the 4 modules
- Ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts
- Appropriate expression and language.

Students displaying a comprehensive, critical understanding of the topics addressed, combined with a proper command of sector-specific language and expression, will be awarded the top grades (29/30L).

Students displaying a memory-based knowledge of the subject, combined with an ability to summarise and analyse the topics in correct but not always appropriate language, will be awarded medium grades (25-28).

Students displaying learning gaps and/or inappropriate language – albeit accompanied by an acceptable knowledge of the exam material – cannot be awarded more than an adequate grade (18-24).

Students displaying learning gaps, inappropriate language and a lack of direction in the bibliographic materials made available during the course will be awarded a fail.

Teaching tools

Projector for viewing images and multimedia content.

Students will find additional material and bibliography, as well as references to relevant websites, on the tutor’s webpage.

Office hours

See the website of Piero Simeone Colla