Page 175 - Balancing between the present and the past

No anomalies were noticed by the participating teachers. To examine the progress of the students in historical contextualization, a coding scheme was constructed that provided the opportunity to review the students’ answers to the test questions. The coding scheme was based on literature on historical contextualization (e.g., Endacott & Brooks, 2013; Hartmann & Hasselhorn, 2008; Lee & Ashby, 2001). Since our research question focused on the display of presentism and historical contextualization before and after an intervention, we chose to work with these two coding categories (see Table 26). It is possible that an answer received a “presentism” and “contextualized” code when the student, for example, answered that slavery was a phenomenon in the 19th century (using chronological context knowledge) but that it was stupid to not bring people who committed atrocities to trial (present-oriented perspective).
The coding was first independently done by one of the authors, who holds a Master’s
degree in history education and taught history in a secondary school for 9 years.
Next, the coding was reviewed by one of the other authors, who also holds a Master’s
degree in history education and taught history in a secondary school for over 40 years. Subsequently, all non-corresponding codes (approximately 15%) were discussed
until a consensus was reached, resulting in the final coding. First, a frequency
analysis (e.g., Krippendorff, 2013) was used to examine the possible gains in historical contextualization in both conditions. Next, a qualitative analysis of the students’
answers was done to explore how the students might have improved their historical contextualization skills. The unit of analysis was the entire student answer. 7
Table 26. Coding scheme with the categories, category descriptions, and examples of students’ answers
A historical contextualization framework
Category
Category description
Examples of students’ answers
Displaying a present- oriented perspective when answering the question
Using historical context knowledge to answer the question
Students display a present-oriented 1. perspective in their answer. They view and
judge the past based on their own beliefs, 2. values, and/or knowledge. No consideration
of the contextual circumstances at the time of the historical event takes place.
Students use chronological, spatial, socio- 1. political, socio-economic, and/or socio-
cultural context knowledge in their answer.
They consider the contextual circumstances
at the time of the historical event. 2.
People living back then were just stupid.
Hannes should not vote for the Nazi Party considering what they have done to the world.
In the 1950s, it was the law that women in governmental roles would lose their jobs when they married.
This source material is set before the beginning of the Second World War; thus, Hannes could not have known the outcome.
3. People in the 16th century thought that witches existed and were afraid of them.
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