Use of Historical Sources in Secondary History Instruction: An Exploratory Study

• In Event: 16.055 - Interrogating Practices and Purposes of History Education

Abstract

This exploratory qualitative study analyzed secondary history lessons to assess whether and how teachers used historical sources in instruction to engage students in historical inquiry. Forty-two teachers across 16 school districts served as participants. Data included 345 videotaped lessons from secondary world and United States history courses. Analysis indicated 126 lessons featured historical sources, although the sources served no apparent instructional purpose in roughly one-third of those lessons. In the majority of lessons in which historical sources did serve an instructional purpose, teachers used sources for reasons other than engaging students in historical inquiry. In the rare cases in which inquiry was the lesson focus, teachers achieved this instructional purpose with varying degrees of fidelity. Implications for practice are considered.

Authors

• Stephanie D. Van Hover, University of Virginia

• Hilary Dack, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• David Hicks, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University