Page 161 - Balancing between the present and the past

and Limón (2006) described an average history classroom where lecturing and story- telling by the teacher dominated. In such history classrooms, historical reasoning might not be encouraged since it requires active participation and input from the students (Van Boxtel & Van Drie, 2017). Recent research indicates that little has changed. For example, Reisman (2015), when analyzing videotaped history lessons, concluded that disciplinary discussions were surprisingly rare and that discussion that encouraged historical understanding was even more rare. Saye and Social Studies Inquiry Research Collaborative (2013) found that only 21% of the students in their sample attended classes that met the standards for moderately challenging teaching, such as engaging students in disciplined inquiry. A recent observation study of (Huijgen, Holthuis, et al., 2018) showed that the eight history teachers who were included in the sample rarely engaged students in historical contextualization processes. This study aims, therefore, to help teachers engage students in historical contextualization processes by examining the use of a historical contextualization framework.
7.2.2 Historical contextualization and presentism
Following Wineburg (1991, 1998), several scholars consider historical contextualization
to be a heuristic that is used when reading historical texts, in addition to sourcing and corroboration. For example, De La Paz et al. (2014) viewed contextualization as the
extent to which students identified and situated arguments and primary sources in
the appropriate time, place, and setting. In this study, we use a broader definition of 7 historical contextualization as the ability to situate phenomena and people’s actions
in the context of long-term developments, their specific times, and historical location to be able to give meaning to these phenomena and acts (Van Boxtel & Van Drie, 2012). Historical contextualization requires an understanding of the social, political, and cultural norms of the time period under investigation and knowledge of the events leading up to the historical situation and other relevant events that happened concurrently (Endacott & Brooks, 2013). However, historical contextualization should not lead to relativism among students, such as the justification of controversial people’s actions in the past. Rather, it should help students to make reasoned ethical judgements and to understand and explain historical phenomena and people’s actions based on a created historical context (Seixas & Morton, 2013).
Many scholars argue that historical contextualization could prevent presentism (e.g., Barton & Levstik, 2004; VanSledright, 2001). The term presentism is often used when
A historical contextualization framework
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