INQUIRY BASED LEARNING ON TEACHING CONTROVERSIAL HISTORICAL ISSUES – AN ACTION RESEARCH WITH PRE‐SERVICE TEACHERS

Papadimas Lampros, Alexandra Stavrianoudaki, Antonios Smyrnaios

Abstract


Controversial Historical Issues are considered as an historical education topic which usually makes teachers feel uncomfortable to deal with pedagogically. A collaborative investigation is expected to be a suitable approach for teaching this kind of issue. This current research concerns the effects of an educational program for pre‐service teachers in their willingness to teach Controversial Issues through modern collaborative teaching practices. A six‐month program based on the basic principles of Inquiry Based Learning, related to Occupation‐Resistance‐Civil War thematic, has been implemented with fourteen pre‐service teachers. Data qualitative analysis showed that participants get familiarized with strategies and learning tools that help children draw valid conclusions, utilize source practices, and conduct their own enriched narrations about the controversial past. The major benefits and potential difficulties have also been revealed. After all, this training experience strengthens their perceived self‐efficacy since they acknowledge that a collaborative investigation is an effective approach to acquiring historical knowledge based on personal and group‐investigation processes.

 

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Keywords


Controversial Historical Issues, collaborative investigation, pre‐service teachers' education

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v9i9.4452

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