The Nature of Literacy Instruction in Elementary School History Lessons

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Recontextualising history in primary school : discourses in the classroom

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Ambitious aims, traditional reality? : Observing historical literacy in Finnish upper secondary schools

This article investigates history instruction in Finnish upper secondary schools. The study revolves around the concept of historical literacy. We study what kind of texts and pedagogical activities history teachers used, and discuss to what extent the observed teaching can be characterised as disciplinary. A total of nine teachers were observed for five consecutive lessons. The data include numerical data collected using an observation instrument, as well as field notes and teacher interviews. The results reveal a teacher-led approach that emphasises substantive knowledge. Primary sources or other texts were used or analysed very rarely in the classroom. Nevertheless, in the interviews, the observed teachers indicated an understanding of what disciplinary teaching entails and considered it important to employ disciplinary practices. This disconnect indicates that the aims stipulated at the curricular level are only being partially implemented at the classroom level.This article investigates history instruction in Finnish upper secondary schools. The study revolves around the concept of historical literacy. We study what kind of texts and pedagogical activities history teachers used, and discuss to what extent the observed teaching can be characterised as disciplinary. A total of nine teachers were observed for five consecutive lessons. The data include numerical data collected using an observation instrument, as well as field notes and teacher interviews. The results reveal a teacher-led approach that emphasises substantive knowledge. Primary sources or other texts were used or analysed very rarely in the classroom. Nevertheless, in the interviews, the observed teachers indicated an understanding of what disciplinary teaching entails and considered it important to employ disciplinary practices. This disconnect indicates that the aims stipulated at the curricular level are only being partially implemented atthe classroom level.Peer reviewe

Tekstit väylinä historian tulkinnalliseen prosessiin

Lectio praecursoria kasvatustieteen väitöskirjaan Historical literacy in Finnish primary classrooms: teaching history or things about the past? Helsingin yliopistossa 19.1.2024

Assessing historical literacy among 12-year-old Finns

The new national core curriculum has been put into operation in Finland. Teaching and learning is intended to focus on historical literacy. In this paper, we study how it can be assessed with a penand-paper test, and what that reveals in regards to the mastering of historical literacy among elementary pupils. To study this, we designed a test where pupils analysed sources, answered open-ended questions, and filled out weighted multiple-choice questions. Furthermore, we implemented the test with the think-aloud method. The results from this indicate the way 12-year-olds read historical documents and formulate their own interpretations. The results demonstrate that most of the pupils succeeded in acquiring historical information from different sources, as well as understanding the interpretative nature of historical knowledge. The test also revealed that pupils can identify some intentions of the sources' producers, as well as reasoning through their own interpretations using a single source. Some pupils, however, could not process the cognitive noise inherent to the test (i.e. conflicting sources). Some of them also considered an authoritative source to be principally more reliable than other sources. Our study sheds light on which kind of task can be used at the elementary level to assess historical literacy.Peer reviewe

Arviointiuudistuksen alkutaipaleella : Perusopetuksen päättöarviointitutkimuksen loppuraportti

Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriön rahoittamassa tutkimushankkeessa on tutkittu perusopetuksen päättöarviointiuudistuksen käyttöönottoa. Tutkimus oli osa opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriön vuosina 2020–2022 toteuttamaa varhaiskasvatuksen ja perusopetuksen laatua ja tasa-arvoa parantavaa Oikeus Oppia -kehittämisohjelmaa. Tutkimuksen toteutti Jyväskylän yliopiston Koulutuksen tutkimuslaitoksen ja Helsingin yliopiston Kasvatustieteellisen tiedekunnan muodostama tutkimusryhmä. Tutkimushankkeeseen sisältyi kolme osa-aluetta: 1) opetustoimen johdon ja rehtoreiden näkökulma uudistukseen, 2) opettajien näkökulma uudistukseen sekä 3) perusopetuksen päättöarvosanojen muutokset. Tutkimus rajattiin viiteen oppiaineeseen: äidinkieli ja kirjallisuus, matematiikka, fysiikka, englanti ja historia. Tutkimushankkeen tulokset perustuvat opetustoimen johdolle, rehtoreille ja opettajille tehtyihin kyselyihin ja haastatteluihin sekä rekisteriaineistoon perusopetuksen päättöarvosanoista. Loppuraportissa on kuvattu, miten uudistusprosessi on kunnissa ja kouluissa edennyt, miten opetustoimen henkilöstö kokee uudistuksen, miten he tulkitsevat uusia arviointilinjauksia ja päättöarvioinnin kriteereitä sekä miten päättöarvosanat ovat muuttuneet uudistuksen jälkeen. Raportissa esitetään myös suosituksia siitä, miten arviointilinjauksia ja päättöarvioinnin kriteereitä tulisi kehittää jatkossa

Designing an assessment tool for historical literacy: the case of Copernicus

This design-based research describes the development process of an assessment tool for historical literacy at primary school level where existing assessment materials are scarce. The assessment task was tested thrice during a two-year-period in Finland and Sweden. Sixty pupils participated in a pen-and-paper-test while seven took part in think-aloud interviews. The task included three written documents on the relationship between Nicolaus Copernicus and the Catholic Church. The length of the original documents was reduced and the language simplified age-appropriately. The results revealed a tendency to read the sources as information rather than as evidence. Also, the concept of reliability proved difficult. Alterations during the re-design phases included dividing broad questions into smaller entities and directing pupils´ attention to the characteristics of source types. Many pupils responded to the weighted multiple-choice (WMC) items as if they were traditional multiple-choice questions: they chose the first correct sounding option without pondering over the others. However, one WMC item was particularly successful as all the think-aloud protocols showed that the item met its target construct. As a whole, the artefact did elicit historically literate observations among some pupils.This design-based research describes the development process of an assessment tool for historical literacy at primary school level where existing assessment materials are scarce. The assessment task was tested thrice during a two-year-period in Finland and Sweden. Sixty pupils participated in a pen-and-paper-test while seven took part in think-aloud interviews. The task included three written documents on the relationship between Nicolaus Copernicus and the Catholic Church. The length of the original documents was reduced and the language simplified age-appropriately. The results revealed a tendency to read the sources as information rather than as evidence. Also, the concept of reliability proved difficult. Alterations during the re-design phases included dividing broad questions into smaller entities and directing pupils´ attention to the characteristics of source types. Many pupils responded to the weighted multiple-choice (WMC) items as if they were traditional multiple-choice questions: they chose the first correct sounding option without pondering over the others. However, one WMC item was particularly successful as all the think-aloud protocols showed that the item met its target construct. As a whole, the artefact did elicit historically literate observations among some pupils.Peer reviewe

Prospective primary school teachers' confidence in teaching disciplinary history

This study explores how confident prospective teachers felt themselves to teach disciplinary history after a course which focused particularly on teaching historical thinking. The data consist of a survey and two essays by 121 respondents, in-depth interviews with 20 students, and follow-up interviews with eight students. The majority of the participants accepted a disciplinary approach as the basis of their future work. However, almost half of the participants felt uncertainty about their preparedness to teach disciplinary history. The article introduces four approaches that draw on the students' attitudes towards disciplinary history instruction.Peer reviewe