Enquiries in history : Experiences from a professional development seminar series

• The aim of the research project (financed by Swedish Institute for Educational Research) is to develop the enquiry method as an educational approach for teachers to develop students’ critical abilities. Enquiry is a student-active method with the potential to enhance students’ learning under the guidance and instruction from proficient teachers. Therefore, it requires high demands on teachers' academic and subject didactical knowledge. The project is a researcher-teacher collaborative study where around thirty teachers from three school subjects (history, religious education and social studies) have designed and tested enquiries. During the three-year project (2020-2023) three research questions will be addressed: 1) how the method works as a knowledge-generating approach for students in a Swedish school context, 2) what characterizes teachers’ competence to construct and teach enquiries, and 3) how this competence can be advanced within the framework of a professional learning community.We present the theoretical context for a professional development seminar series called Doing Enquiry, and empirical samples and experiences from its implementation including enquiries designed and performed by the history teachers. Starting from the IDM-framework (Swan, Lee, & Grant, 2018), this seminar series focuses on the collaborative construction of enquiries. A hypothesis for the seminar series was that it would be crucial to provide an opportunity to take the role of the teacher as well as being positioned as a pupil in the construction phase of an enquiry. So far, preliminary results will reflect on the second and third question. The results indicate that some elements in history teachers’ competences, that professional development can enhance, are particularly important, e.g., a systematic approach to the planning, implementation and teaching of an enquiry; using a shared subject didactic knowledge within a professional community; and, deep academic knowledge. 

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Historical enquiry

ämnesdidaktik med inriktning mot de samhällsvetenskapliga ämnenas didaktik

Teaching and Learning with Specialisation in the Social Sciences Education

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)