Republic of the Philippines

ISABELA STATE UNIVERSITY

Cabagan, Isabela

LESSON 7: APPROACHES IN TEACHING

PHILIPPINE HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT
 LESSON 7: APPROACHES IN TEACHING PHILIPPINE HISTORY AND
GOVERNMENT

LESSON OVERVIEW

This lesson presents the different approaches in teaching history and government.
It will also explore the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches and
sample lesson plan using the different approaches.

LEARNING OUTCOME

1. identify and explain the different approaches;

2. differentiate and appreciate each approaches based from their suited application;
3. apply one approach in their lesson planning

LESSON CONTENT

Understanding the Chronological Approach

'Chronos' means Time in Greek, so when we think of chronology, we think of time-lines,

sequence, order, beginning, moving from B.C. to A.D.

The chronological approach is exactly what its name implies: the study of history from
one point in time to another point in time. This means that one history class might cover
200 years of American or world history, while another class might cover thousands of
years from the Stone Age to the medieval period.

The chronological approach may be preferable to some history teachers simply because
students expect the lesson plans to proceed in a predictable fashion. It also allows
teachers to set a foundation in one unit that the following unit builds upon. Whatever
way you decide to teach history, you will start at the beginning and move to the present
day.
Advantages of teaching using Chronological Approach

The chronological approach includes several advantages.

• One of these advantages is the fact that the framework of a unit or term is
already in place.
• Another advantage of the chronological approach is that transitions are smooth
from unit to unit.
• Offers more structure with clearer starting and ending points.
• Chronological teaching leads to narrative that is far more fascinating than a
string of dates and bold terms. Narrative communicates that history is full of real
people making interesting choices.
• Chronological narrative is the spine and the blood stream that bring history
closer to ‘how it really was.’

A misconception may arise that the thematic approach represents innovation while the
chronological approach represents stagnation. This is not true and those who support the
chronological method also recognize the need for reform in the subject. One way that
this is accomplished is a technique known as reverse chronology. The reverse chronology
approach often includes connecting the past, present and future in unimaginable ways
(Misco & Patterson, 2009). The reverse chronological approach involves starting from
with the present and working backwards. Teachers are able to use present life interests,
experiences, and imaginations of the students and can use active inquiry strategies to
engage students in the reverse chronological approach (Patterson, 2009). The
justification for starting with the present and working backwards is to help students make
connections to what they are learning. In order for something to have meaning, it must
have a relationship to other things. Educator John Dewey (1916) argued that ideas and
topics isolated from experience do not lead to real thinking. Reverse chronology has an
advantage over the traditional chronological approach because by working backwards the
applicableness to students is more readily visible then working from a distant date.
Critique of Chronological Approach

• it is inadequate in going into depth and instead broadly covers more time periods
but only by skimming over vocabulary and events. Hampel (1985)
• A teacher who too spent little time going in-depth into events as the teacher
abruptly transitioned between topics quickly. These many transitions did not allow
for depth of contents. By rushing through a time period or event, multiple opinions
and accounts of an event are not acknowledged or covered. This caused
generalizations that stopped rather than encouraged a higher level of learning in
the classroom.
• the challenge of getting students engaged, getting them to draw connections and
encouraging them to identify trends throughout history

Understanding the Thematic Approach

The thematic approach eschews a linear progression through history. Instead, it favors a
holistic look at the movements, events, people and ideas that have shaped the world
throughout time. A thematic curriculum is divided into units. Each unit has a theme, and
the content can be taken from any period in history that the class covers.

Advantages of teaching using Thematic Approach

• Deciphering what is important to cover and what is not. “How can historians,
teachers, and students handle the tremendous mass of historical events-lifeless
until re-created by selection and organization-that swirl about our heads like leaves
in a windstorm? How can we bring order out of chaos?”. A solution of this issue
focuses on themes that arise throughout history.
• “Instead of scurrying across a field scooping up handfuls of soil here and there,
the successful prospector picks particular spots for deep drillings. Significant
events and ideas of the past deserve similarly close inspection” .
 • Thematic instruction allows for understanding by going more in- depth. Teachers
and students are forced to identify the fundamental ideas of a subject. In order to
accomplish this the teacher must carefully select important ideas while
simultaneously abandoning less important content.
• The thematic approach is often favored by new teachers because it can appear to
get students more interested in the material, and helps them understand historic
connections within the appropriate context.

Critique of Thematic Approach

• In examining the past and present, students should recognize that events and
changes occur in a specific time and place; that historical change has both causes
and effects; and that life is bounded by the constraints of place.
• One of the most challenging aspects of teaching thematically is incorporating the
skill of cause and effect. Cause and effect is an essential topic for students to learn
and in a classroom where various themes are covered cause and effect is not as
prevalent.
• Students may lose interest after spending a few weeks studying one theme.
• Thus pupils might study crime and punishment, or kingship, and dip in and out of
different centuries. Consequently, dates lose their value.

The blended or combined approach is the most effective approach to teaching history to
increase the learning of the greatest number of students. (Williams, 2016)

“The comparison of the two shows that there is no right way to teach history but instead
that a teacher can apply either approach to their class and successfully engage students
in history…. students would be able to make meaning out of either one of these
approaches given a teacher dedicated to making lessons and the content
engaging…While this makes it more challenging to teach a history class through themes,
Teaching History 15 I believe it is still possible…. Regardless of the approach a teacher
takes the most important component of teaching in general is to ensure that it is engaging
for students. (Tew, 2014)”
Understanding the Comparative Approach/Method

The comparative method is nothing more than the process of making comparisons.

The comparative method, so called, is the process of comparing situations, groups,

cultures, or whatever, which are similar and yet which differ in known ways.

Comparative-historical approaches in sociology are research methods to study social

formation and transformation. “Comparative” studies examine and contrast social
structures and processes across countries or regions to identify general patterns.
“Historical” studies examine social processes over time, highlighting contexts and
contingencies that influence specific changes while looking for general patterns. Both
methods aim to understand complexities and identify causal mechanisms.

Many classic comparative-historical studies examine large-scale processes such as the

transition to capitalism or the formation of modern states. Others study more specific
social or cultural processes, such as the emergence of the working class or the
professionalization of medicine. Recent studies also focus on the formation and
transformation of non-Western societies, especially in Asia and Africa.

Use Historical-Comparative Methodologies When:

• You want to explore why a particular social outcome occurred.

• You want to compare a topic across different societies.
• You want to determine whether an “old” explanation of a social phenomenon is
still valid given what has happened historically since the explanation was
developed.

As a construction, comparison thus helps create an ordered perception of this reality, i.e.
an organised way to see it in one way rather than in many other alternative ways.
Therefore, it should be reflected on, brought into the sphere of awareness, rather than
deployed as if it were an unproblematic and self-evident mode of analysis. Furthermore,
since comparison organises perception in one way rather than another, one should also
be conscious of the kind of order it yields. Not seldom comparative approach is used by
researchers to establish a certain new order of things and/or to reinforce the old ones.

Underneath Kocka‟s dissatisfaction with the abuse of „other‟ cases in order to show the
particularity of the main case lies this often-used potential of comparative analysis to
elaborate and establish hierarchical orders in which civilisations, cultures, societies, and
nations are nested, either as cases that are in some respect inferior to the favoured ones
or as abnormalities and/or deviations of some path or model that, represented by the
favoured cases, is taken to serve as the normality or the point of reference in the
comparison. Yet, comparison is still a method with outstanding merits, chiefly because of
its ability to make us recognise the narrowness of our mind and check against the
shortcomings and harmful consequences of localism and provincialism. We may however
have something to learn from historians‟ hesitation in using comparison and from their
respect for the uniqueness of contexts and histories of peoples. One may hope that
comparative mode of analysis can be broadened, not only comparing structures,
institutions and processes, but also mentalities, experiences, emotions, codes and
symbols.

FLEXIBLE TEACHING

Audio and Video recorded lecture

LEARNING MODALITY ADAPTED

1. Modular

Activity

1. Think of a topic in any Social Sciences fields and explain which among the three (3)
approaches is best suited and why?

2. Make an outline lesson plan for #1.

REFERENCES

Azarian, Reza. 2011. Potentials and Limitations of Comparative Method in Social

Science. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 1 No. 4. Stockholm
University Sweden

Tew, Daniel J. 2014. Pedagogy of Teaching History: Comparing the Chronologic and
Thematic Approaches. Western Oregon University

Williams, Shane, "Teaching History: Effective Teaching for Learning History -

Chronological vs. Thematic Approaches to Student Historical Comprehension" (2016).
Master of Education Program Theses. Paper 105.

https://www.gcu.edu/blog/teaching-school-administration/history-teaching-style-
thematic-or-
chronological#:~:text=The%20chronological%20approach%20is%20exactly,Age%20to
%20the%20medieval%20period.

http://people.uncw.edu/pricej/teaching/methods/historical.htm

https://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/socialresearch/comparativemethod.htm