Dynamics of Power and Critical Inquiry in the History Classroom
History education is often conceptualized as a means of strengthening democratic consensus by the transmission of values and of sense-making narratives. History teaching may not be independent of state power, but unlike in authoritarian regimes, democracy cannot impose the lessons it wants to be learned from history by force. A democratic society must strive to prepare students for civic participation by cultivating their critical thinking skills. This may work quite well in countries where stability and widespread consensus on basic values facilitate a broad majority of students adopting pro-democracy views on the present meaning and ethical relevance of the past. However, the normative challenge of democratic history education becomes more difficult in contexts of polarized societies, where perceptions of past and present are not a source of unity and harmony, but rather of tension, conflict and sometimes even violence.
In our panel discussion (90 minutes) we will examine from the comparative perspective of three divided Western societies (USA, France and Germany), whether a critical inquiry rooted in the epistemic tradition of historical research can provide students with an “antidote” to polarization and its often distorting and ideologizing effects on the perception of reality. How can history education empower students to resist misinformation, one-sided thinking, and doubtful framing effects with tools of critical source reading and online reasoning? Can they be prepared to become participants of democratic discussions when they learn that history as a science seeks to reconstruct the past not by claiming absolute “possession of truth”, but through study based on evidence, acknowledging uncertainty and always open to revision? How can such an approach strengthen a vision of democratic power based on respect among individuals and groups and a common struggle for good solutions?
The panel discussion will be opened by three introductory statements (15 minutes each), all focused on different national, research- and experience-based approaches to the democratic potential of critical inquiries in history classes (and therefore without individual titles). The second part of the section (45 minutes), will be an interview-style discussion open to the audience and moderated by Peter Geiss (Professor for History Didactics at the University of Bonn, with a key interest in comparative approaches and synergy effects between different national teaching traditions).
Nicola Brauch (Professor for History Didactics, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany): Nicola Brauch current research concerns the ethical potential of history education in the perspective of responsible democratic citizenship with a focus on antisemitism-prevention in pre-service teacher education (EMPATHIA). Furthermore, her epistemological focus and research on competencies (HITCH) will help us to establish links between the American and French approach to inquiry and key concepts in the German didactic tradition, like historical consciousness and narrative sense-making.
Sylvain Doussot (Professor for History Didactics, University of Nantes, CREN, France): Sylvain Doussot is specialized in the links between the epistemic foundations of historical inquiries in the field of academic research and classroom activities. His current research (ANR-CCEH) focuses on the conditions for developing students’ skills in conducting historical investigations through a progressive curriculum. This research also examines the transfer of these skills to deal with current events in the media. It aims to question education for democratic citizenship from a domain specific angle and to make students more demanding with regard to media information.
Mark Smith (Digital Inquiry Group, USA): Mark Smith is the director of assessment for the Digital Inquiry Group (DIG), a non-profit research and development organization that was founded as the Stanford History Education Group at Stanford University in 2002. His research focuses on history assessment, particularly issues of validity and generalizability related to the assessment of historical thinking skills. He also contributes to the development of DIG’s “Reading Like a Historian and Civic Online Reasoning” curricular materials, and he conducts research that investigates the effectiveness of these materials in schools.