Historical Thinking - The Role of The History Textbook in Learning To Think Historically

The Role of The History Textbook in Learning To Think Historically

History textbooks draw much attention from history educators and educational researchers. The use of textbooks is nearly universal in history, government, and other social studies courses at the primary, and secondary levels in the U.S.; however, the role of textbooks remains controversial.

Arguments against reliance on textbooks have ranged from ideological to pragmatic. Many revisionist educators and historians have distorted and politicised the historical focus of textbooks to include an undue emphasis on issues related to identity politics, such as the history of women and minorities, and presented history as a progressivist struggle. This has been at the expense of a dispassionate and empirical perspective which seeks to identify and analyse casual links and connections between seemingly disparate historical phenomena and illuminate factors involved in historical change and continuity.

Others object to textbooks on epistemological grounds. Such critics point out that textbooks written in an omniscient, third person voice that claim to present “objective facts” are misleading. Such texts encourage students to believe that one interpretation of events is sufficient and correct. In addition, critics contend that textbooks written in this manner are perceived by students as dry and uninteresting and discourage students from reading history, creating motivational barriers to learning.

Still other critics believe that using textbooks undermines the process of learning history by sacrificing thinking skills for content--that textbooks allow teachers to cover vast amounts of names, dates and places, while encouraging students to simply memorize instead of question or analyze.

Most textbook critics concede that textbooks are a necessary tool in history education. Arguments for textbook-based curricula point out that history teachers require resources to support the broad scope of topics covered in the typical history classroom. Well-designed textbooks can provide a foundation on which enterprising educators can build other classroom activities.