Developing Historical Thinking Through Research Projects: A New Zealand Case Study

• In Event: Roundtable Session 66
  In Roundtable Session: Pedagogical Approaches for Improving Instruction in History Classrooms

Abstract

This paper reports on a two-year study that is examining how research projects motivate history students to engage with the disciplinary features of history (especially in regards to critical thinking) and develop expertise in the subject. Standards-based internally assessessed research projects that reflect the disciplinary features of the subject (including the contested features of history) are a major part of New Zealand high school programmes. This paper argues that not only does this style of learning generate high levels of motivation among students (as they have considerable autonomy in regards to what they study) but that engaging with the processes of how knowledge is produced in the discipline through research makes a substantial contribution to young people developing disciplinary expertise.

Author

• William Mark Sheehan, Victoria University of Wellington