Page 63 - Balancing between the present and the past

history, math, and English. Around age twelve, the children transition to secondary
education. This is when the first differentiation among three educational levels
occurs. Approximately 60% of the students go to pre-vocational schools (duration
of 4 years), 20% receive senior general secondary education (duration of 5 years),
and 20% receive pre-university education (duration of 6 years). The determination
of a student’s level of education is based on the advice of the elementary school
and supported by a mandatory standardized test that measures the student’s
attainment of certain standards (e.g., language, world orientation, mathematics) 3 in elementary education. Only a pre-university degree allows access to Dutch
universities. Furthermore, the educational quality of all elementary and secondary schools is monitored by the Dutch Inspection of Education. The ability to perform HPT is included only in the formal history exam program of senior general secondary education and pre-university education. A total number of 323,498 students attend upper secondary education between the ages of 15–18, of which 49% are placed in senior general secondary education and 51% receive pre-university education. The gender distribution for senior general secondary education is 49% male and 51% female, and for pre-university education it is 47% and 53%, respectively (Statistics Netherlands, 2014).
3.4.4 Quantitative research sample and data analysis
Using the HPT instrument, we tested 143 tenth-grade pre-university students from seven schools (four urban, three rural) to examine their ability to perform HPT.3 The mean student age was 15.1 years, and the gender distribution of the sample was 54% female and 46% male. The participating schools generally matched the total population in terms of student enrollment and graduation rates (Statistics Netherlands, 2014). History was a compulsory subject for all 143 students, and students received two history lessons, each ranging from 50–60 minutes per week. Approximately one year prior to the study, the students had studied the history of Germany. The foci of the course included the First World War, the rise of Hitler, the Second World War, and Germany’s role in the Cold War. To examine how the 143 students performed, we calculated students’ mean HPT score, mean category scores (POP, ROA, and CONT), and mean prior knowledge scores.
3 The published article (Huijgen, Van Boxtel, Van de Grift, & Holthuis, 2017) described that 170 students were included in the sample but due to missing data the analyses were conducted among 143 students (HPT instrument) and 139 students (prior knowledge test). This chapter, including the results in Table 8 and Table 9, displays the correct information.
Contextualizing historical agents’ actions
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