Opening the Mind or Drawing Boundaries? (eBook)

Þorsteinn Helgason is Associate Professor for History Education at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik/Iceland.

Contents 7
About the Authors 9
Preface 15
Part One Ourselves and Others in Nordic Textbooks 21
Deconstructing the Eurocentric Perspective: Studying “Us” and the “Other” in History Books 23
Intercultural Education and the Representation of the Other in History Textbooks 35
Pictures of Greenlanders and Samis in Norwegian and Danish Textbooks 63
Encountering Others in Icelandic Textbooks: Imperialism and Racial Diversity in the Era of Nationalism 83
Part Two Ends and Means: Materials in History Teaching 99
History in the Textbooks and the Teachers Who Use them: a Teachers’ Survey and More 101
Beyond the Book Cover: Curriculum Goals and Learning Materials 109
Different Kinds of Teaching Resources – Different Kinds of Learning? Teachers’ Ends and Means 123
Narrativity in Teaching Materials 141
Critical Thinking and the Textbook in History: An Odd Couple? 165
“Critical Thinking” and Causality in History Teaching Material: an Analysis of how the French Revolution Is Presented in a Norwegian and a Swedish History Textbook for Junior High School 187
The Teacher, the History Text and Values 221
Facts, Functions and Narratives in History Teaching in Finland: Attitudes Towards History as Reflected in the Use of Textbooks 241
Appendix 271
Index 283

"History in the Textbooks and the Teachers Who Use them: a Teachers’ Survey and More (S. 99-100)

Thorsteinn Helgason / Monika Vinterek / Amalia Bjçrnsdottir

In the first section of this book textbooks and other teaching materials are investigated as tools in the hands of students and teachers and in society at large. Textbooks are indeed powerful tools as every student uses them and every member of society is or has been a student. History texts have a role in “opening the mind and drawing boundaries.” The investigation presented in this section of the book concerns the role of history textbooks and other teaching materials and the expectations of teachers as the users of the materials and the expectations of society in the form of official curricula. The study also looks at the evaluation of specific textbooks made by researchers and teachers.

In order to get a grasp on teachers’ opinions, an online survey directed at history teachers was conducted by part of the Nordic research group History in the Textbooks. Between November 2006 and April 2007, 409 Nordic teachers answered this questionnaire about their ideas and their evaluation of the role of textbooks and other educational materials in history instruction, both in general and regarding materials of their own choice with which they were familiar.

In the following chapters seven authors from each of the Nordic countries use the history teacher survey as a point of departure or as a frame of reference for their analyses, which concern the ends and means of materials used or not used in history teaching. The survey is a source for further discussion and investigation along with other materials, a tool among other tools. Some of the authors turn a critical eye on certain texts in specific textbooks (Skjelbred and Reichenberg, Poulsen), others turn to the aims and goals of written curricula (Hammarlund, Helgason), the kinds of teaching material used (Vinterek) or look at other surveys (Hammarlund, Vinterek).

The chapters focus on history texts as elements of history as a discipline and on history pedagogy. A variety of approaches are used by the authors. Textual analysis and literacy theory are used in Skjeldbred and Reichenberg’ Reichenberg’s investigation of s causality in Swedish and Norwegian textbooks."