HISTORY EDUCATION 1

Introduction
Course instructor
DR. KIMWAREY
 Welcome note
Hello everyone and welcome
Course purpose:
To enables learners acquire pertinent
knowledge, skills and attitudes on the
background and philosophical
underpinnings in the study of History
and Government
 Introduction
The course that offers students with an opportunity to
learn on:
• the background (philosophers thoughts Hist)
• development of the subject (conceptual and empirical
works);
• the sources of information on history and government;
• the relationship between history and other disciplines;
• critical issues in the study history and challenges faced
 Course objectives

This course seeks to enable learners learn about;

1. Philosophical underpinnings in the study of
History
2. The sources of information on the study of
History and government
3. The critical aspects in the teaching of History
4. The challenges facing the teaching of History in
secondary schools
 Guiding questions
• What is history? What is my perspective about
the subject? What is expected of a history
teacher? How is the nature of the content, the
public view about the subject History, the
guiding principles of effective teaching, the
effective strategies to adopt in order to make
teaching effective and expected challenges
(societal, school, classroom from psycho/social
perspectives)
Background and historical development

• The term History owes its inception to Greek

civilization and is derived from the word
‘historia’ meaning ‘information’ or an ‘inquiry’
designed to elicit the truth
• 484-425 BC a Greek historian Herodotus wrote
on the activities of man based on events in a
dated past which had lasted for generations
• An improvement was given by Thucydides
(460-400 BC) emphasized on humanistic and
self-revelatory functions of history.
• London school of thoughts; history as ‘the
story of the leading past which emerges into
the present technical cycle’
• Crabtree (1993);history as the story about the
past that is ‘significant’ and ‘true’
 Task
• Research on more definitions of History and
for each establish key aspects common to all
scholars using the works of
• i)Livy Titus ii) Eusabius Pamphili iii)
Machaivelli iv) Francis Bacon iv) Vico iv)
emmanuel Kant v) Rosseau vi) Hegel
• Provide the modern concept of history point
out key aspects
 Modern History
• Characteristics of modern History- attributed to the
work of Ranke stressed on the meaning of History
needed to be carefully examined by use of objective
methods
• Key concerns were i) the arrangement of history in a
particular order-chronological
• ii) interpretation of history-personal level
• Iii) inquiry of historical ideas-
• Iv) truth about history-came to be known as the
scientific approach-
• Whether Hist is a science or art- justify
• What is an historical fact? How can one
recognize hist as a fact or not. How can you
defend whether something is a fact or not
• How and why explanation in hist
• What is objectivity and subjectivity in History:
give the characteristics of each