MrMarcHistory

2018 Netherlands - 1 year - Dutch Curriculum 2019-2020 China - 1.5 years - Advanced Placement - European History Since 2020 British School Poland - British Curriculum (KS2, KS3, GCSE)

As a MA teaching history graduate, my educational philosophy centers around the field of history, but this can easily be extended to social studies. My educational philosophy is based on the concept of active historical thinking which is basically the concept of 21st century skills applied to the field of teaching history. The term active historical thinking can be best explained by separating the terms ‘active’ and ‘historical thinking’. ‘Historical thinking’ forms the basis of my history classes. Traditionally, history education has been based on the idea of knowing history. Lately, there has been a shift to focus more on historical thinking which I wholeheartedly support. Instead of just knowing dates, persons and facts, I want my students to be 'mini-historians'. They should understand that history is a construct of the past and construct their own version. This means that they should be able to analyze primary and secondary sources, debate which World War 1 cause was most important and look at a certain phenomenon from different perspectives. I want my students to have a critical attitude and not just accept anything the book says and question my views and opinions. Thus, instead of reproducing history, they should try to add something to the ongoing historical debate, however small that contribution might be. This all sounds great, but how to teach this? That is where the ‘active’ part comes in. As discussed in the previous section, active learning is much more effective (and fun) than passive learning. Historical thinking also cannot be trained by just reading texts and listening to lectures and therefore ‘active learning’ assignments are needed. The assignments I use in my classes can range from making mind maps and drawing historical terms to role playing and ‘mysteries’. The most important thing is that there are no correct answers. Of course, some answers would be more correct than others, but if everything is properly supported by arguments and source evidence, it is accepted. The real learning takes place when students must make and defend their choices and practice skills as debating, collaboration, critical thinking and communication.

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BA History, MA European Studies, MA Teaching History

www.mrmarchistory.com