History as Knowledge: Ethical Values and Meaning in Encounters with History

What do you know when you know something about history? What is important to know and how do you learn? Adolescents encounter history everywhere: at school, in the family, in media and society. But how do adolescents perceive history and in what ways do aspects of meaning and ethical values affect the encounters with history? This study discusses how Swedish adolescents and teachers encounter, communicate and define knowledge about history, analysing the process from curricula and history textbooks to the world of the pupils.

Cover -- Contents -- Chapter 1. Introduction -- Encountering history -- History in Swedish schools -- Knowledge -- History and knowledge -- Applied research on knowledge about history -- Meaning -- Materials and methods -- The content of the book -- Chapter 2. 100 years of knowledge about history -- A 100-year perspective − similarities -- Differences -- A two-dimensional analysis − similarities -- Differences -- Summary conclusions -- Chapter 3. Pupils encounter history -- At the end of the last century -- The current picture -- How pupils learn history -- Encountering history at school -- In-class activities -- Summary conclusions -- Chapter 4. Pupils and knowledge about history -- How do pupils describe knowledge about history? -- What forms of knowledge do pupils demonstrate? -- Conclusions -- Chapter 5. Pupils' meaning-making in encountering history -- Birgitta E. Gustafsson -- Making meaning -- Pupils' encounters with history − an interview study -- Two patterns of thought -- Didactic consequences -- Chapter 6. Teachers' views of knowledge about history -- Examining the view of knowledge -- The teachers' responses -- The taxonomy analysis framework -- Relativism, attributing…