Teaching Historical Overviews at the Unit Organization Level : A Comparative Case Study of Japan and the UK

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  • 歴史を大観する学習の単元構成論 : 日本と英国の事例分析を手がかりにして
  • レキシ オ タイカン スル ガクシュウ ノ タンゲン コウセイロン : ニホン ト エイコク ノ ジレイ ブンセキ オ テガカリ ニ シテ

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Abstract

This research addresses a long-standing challenge in history education-practical methods of teaching historical overviews. To research methods for teaching historical overviews, I conducted a case study of junior high school history in Japan and KS3 history in the UK. My purpose was to clarify the principles and methods for teaching historical overviews at the level of unit organization. The course of study in Japan and the national curriculum in the UK were analyzed for the positioning of the curriculum, and history textbooks of each country were analyzed to clarify the composition of their content. Additionally, the lesson plans based on the history textbooks were analyzed to clarify the development of actual learning. The analyses clearly indicate that in Japan, the summary of a particular era characterizes learning overviews. However, in the UK, the understanding of thematic stories or historical frameworks characterizes learning overviews. According to the analyses, a learning overview for unit organization should be characterized by the following statements: a) historical overview does not mean a summary of the era, but the historical frame of reference; b) the era of overview should not be bound by existing periodization or by a prescribed unit of a text or curriculum; c) a purpose of the overview is to pose a broad question leading to the historical overview; d) The basic learning plan for historical overview should contain the following: 1) initial overview activity and developing consciousness of the problem, 2) overarching questions and forming hypotheses; 3) enquiries combined with ongoing overview activities; 4) concluding task. Following this structure for the learning process, I developed a model unit entitled "Dawn of Medieval Times."

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