1. A New Look at Big  History

Author: Kate Hawkey

Source:Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(2): 163-179

Abstract:The article sets out a ‘big history’ which  resonates with the priorities of our own time. A globalizing world calls for new  spacial scales to underpin what the history curriculum addresses, ‘big history’  calls for new temporal scales, while concern over climate change calls for a new  look at subject boundaries. The article proposes a planet-wide big history which  builds on the considerable disciplinary gains made in history education in  recent decades as well as proposing a history curriculum with more porous  boundaries between natural and human history. What this might look like in  classrooms is explored and the limitations and obstacles to the implementation  of these approaches in classrooms addressed.

2. History and the  Relationship between Scientific and Pedagogical Knowledge: Anatomy Lectures Then  and Now

Author: Wolff-Michael Roth and Norm  Friesen

Source:Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(2): 180-200

Abstract:In recent years, school science has been the  target of increasing critique for two reasons. On the one hand, it is said to  enforce ‘epic’ images of science that celebrate the heroes and heroic deeds that  established the scientific canon and its methods and thereby falsifies the  history and nature of science. On the other hand, the sciences are presented as  objective, making factual statements independent of location and time—a claim  that runs counter to the current mainstream canon of scientific knowledge as  socially and individually constructed. In this article, we suggest that contexts  leading to new scientific knowledge make science objective and subjective  simultaneously. Our approach, which focuses on the performative dimensions of  (school) science, works to overcome the distinctions between knowledge and  knowing and the associated distinction between theory and practice. We show the  significance of the performative dimension through a comparison of anatomy  lectures and texts from the 17th century and in present-day biology classrooms.  We underscore the need to retain and investigate the historical connections  between the founding of (scientific) knowledge and its present-day form taught  in schools.

3. Making the Grade: a  History of the A–F Marking Scheme

Author: Jack Schneider and Ethan  Hutt

Source:Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(2): 201-224

Abstract:This article provides a historical  interpretation of one of the defining features of modern schooling: grades. As a  central element of schools, grades—their origins, uses and evolution—provide a  window into the tensions at the heart of building a national public school  system in the United States. We argue that grades began as an intimate  communication tool among teachers, parents, and students used largely to inform  and instruct. But as reformers worked to develop a national school system in the  late nineteenth century, they saw grades as useful tools in an organizational  rather than pedagogical enterprise—tools that would facilitate movement,  communication and coordination. Reformers placed a premium on readily  interpretable and necessarily abstract grading systems. This shift in the  importance of grades as an external rather than internal communication device  required a concurrent shift in the meaning of grades—the meaning and nuance of  the local context was traded for the uniformity and fungibility of more portable  forms.

4. New Histories for a  New State: a Study of History Textbook Content in Northern Ireland

Author: Luke Terra

Source:Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(2): 225-248

Abstract:This study examined the changing content of  history textbooks in Northern Ireland, drawing on a sample of 15 textbooks  published from 1968 to 2010. Findings from the content and narrative analysis  indicated that following the introduction of the Northern Ireland Curriculum in  1991, history textbooks shifted from a narrative to source-driven format, and  adopted an enquiry approach that focused on significant events in Irish history.  These changes allowed textbooks to more accurately reflect diverse perspectives  on controversial events, but also prevented them from connecting specific events  into a coherent whole. The format of more recent textbooks appears well suited  to the particular demands of history education in a divided society like  Northern Ireland where no single narrative is acceptable across all  schools.

5. Teaching the USA in  South Korean Secondary Classrooms: the Curriculum of ‘the Superior  Other’

Author: Won-Pyo Hong and  Anne-LiseHalvorsen

Source:Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(2): 249-275

Abstract:By examining teacher interviews and student  survey data through the lens of multiculturalism and post-colonialism, this  study investigates how the USA is taught in secondary school social studies in  South Korea. Specifically, the study examines the teachers’ goals, the  representation of the USA in Korean textbooks and its influence on the  instruction, the effect on the instruction by the dominant discourse on the USA  in South Korea, and the conceptions of the USA held by Korean students in social  studies classes. Our findings show that while the teachers strive to present  diverse and complex aspects of the USA and its culture, for several reasons they  rarely achieve these goals: the textbooks do not support these goals, the  teachers lack relevant knowledge and experience, and administrators resist  instruction that challenges the generally positive opinion of the USA among  South Koreans. Consequently, the students often end up having complex,  contradictory ideas about the USA. Based on these findings, this study argues  that educators in Korea (and elsewhere) would benefit from curriculum  re-evaluations aimed at helping their students acquire a more refined  understanding of other cultures and other peoples, in particular the  understanding of the values associated with human equality and  diversity.

6. Diversity between and  within: Approaches to Teaching about Distant Place in the Secondary School  Curriculum

Author: Liz Taylor

Source:Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(2): 276-299

Abstract: This study outlines some  challenges of teaching about distant place and demonstrates how different  strategies can influence school students’ framings of diversity. The analysis is  based on an interpretive case study of 13–14 year-old students learning about  Japan in a UK school. Their changing representations of Japan were tracked in  detail over a 10 week period of study. The findings show that students’  representations of Japan were multi-stranded, demonstrating different levels of  sophistication depending on the aspect of the country under consideration.  Learning activities that enabled contact with the lives of young people from the  distant place or that involved multiple images were shown to challenge  stereotypes and to encourage more nuanced understandings of diversity between  and within.