Was the Franco dictatorship a cause or consequence of the Spanish Civil War? Was Einstein a medieval scientist? Confusions like these are quite common among secondary school students, who tend to learn history as a rote series of names and dates in varying degrees of detail.
Basic topics – such as historical periods and their corresponding sets of key figures and events – do not provide the foundation that the study of history ought to offer. Study of the past should give us the ability to appreciate historical perspective, to place the events around us within a context, and to understand our passage through the world as part of a larger, interrelated whole.
However, lecture-style teaching and a lack of depth when it comes to subject matter result in a superficial understanding of historical events. As a result, teenagers often see history as a series of isolated, unconnected episodes that have little to do with their everyday concerns or interests.
Our research shows how important is it for students to grasp the concept of “historical time”, and how failing to do so makes it impossible for them to master the subject. Our study highlights the need to give meaning and significance to different historical periods.
Understanding the past
A good understanding of historical time is essential for acquiring complex thinking skills. Historical time can be defined as a way of interpreting and organising the past from a social and cultural perspective.
Unlike physical time (in the material sense), historical time cannot necessarily be organised in a sequential, linear and progressive way: days, weeks, months, years, from youngest to oldest, before and after, and so on.
Chronology is one characteristic of historical or social time, but it is not the only one. Historical time also involves different ways of understanding and giving meaning to the passage of time.
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How long is an era?
In history, we conventionally distinguish between different periods or eras: Prehistory, Ancient History, Medieval History, Contemporary History, and Recent History. There is even a field of study called the History of the Present. However, the duration of certain events or phenomena within these periods is not necessarily chronological.
French historian Fernand Braudel argued that historical processes can be classified as long, medium or short-term. Warfare and political changes – such as the French Revolution or Thatcherism – are undoubtedly short-term. Other changes are medium or long-term, such as the evolution of working-class social movements into the subsequent labour movement, and then the more recent pensioners’ protests.
The history of religions or ideas – as well as political ideas such as nationalism, totalitarianism and populism – can span very long periods of time that transcend the divisions imposed by historical periods. These phenomena can straddle several eras, although with characteristics and elements unique to the circumstances in which they appear, continue and transform.
Some historical processes endure over time, while others appear to end and conclude in specific contexts. Historical time offers more subjective elements, which can be organised by historical interpretation as well as chronology or clearly defined eras.
Beyond dates and timelines
Talking about historical time means talking about chronological time (dates, eras, periods) but also about duration – about changes and continuities, or events that are simultaneous, permanent or interrupted.
We could say that – separately from the order in which events occur – historical time takes into account the meaning of those events. It looks at the relationship between them, beyond their chronological order.
Some historical events can even be seen as regressive – situations that recur despite seeming to have been overcome. The unfolding of history is, in many ways, multidimensional.
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Learning and teaching historical time
The success of history learning in adolescents is closely related to the development of their temporal skills and awareness. By this, we mean the ability to understand different aspects of historical time which, unlike social time, are made up of structural elements that allow us to understand the way past events explain the present – as opposed to mere isolated events arranged on an imaginary, abstract timeline.
Unlike a rote learning approach that focuses on facts, figures and dates, studying history through different temporal skills – such as dating, succession, simultaneity, sequencing, permanence, change, continuity, duration, causality and periodisation – promotes more meaningful teaching. It encourages students to “play” with temporal leaps; to reflect on and reason about historical events, to evaluate and contextualise them, and to avoid a present-centric or ethnographic perspective.
When we study a past phenomenon or event, it is always done from the perspective of present-day concerns and beliefs, and from within a specific social and cultural context. By understanding this, we can gain historical perspective, which is essential for both critical and self-critical thinking.
A bridge between the past, present and future
If we only understand history in its chronological and sequential form, rote learning can only be based on an increasingly long chain of events. However, if we study history by focusing on the relationships between events and duration, simultaneity, change or continuity, the way history is taught will be more analytical and reflective. Content and events that can enhance the relationship between the past, present and future will be carefully selected, rather than memorised en masse.
Giving this educational value to the teaching of history is a great challenge, and it is what helps students acquire social and civic competence. This begins with asking questions and seeking answers through the application of an active, participatory and shared method, based on the analysis, comparison, interpretation and communication of findings and evidence from the past.
History makes community
History is what guides and locates us as individuals within our communities and within society. It makes us accountable and engaged, and thus makes us citizens. The study of historical time allows us to understand that the world was already there when we were born, and invites us to position ourselves within the challenges of the present in order to create the future. Only by anchoring ourselves to the past can we move towards a common, shared horizon that will outlive us.
The teaching of history seeks to create this multi-causal connection between the (increasingly changeable, fluid and chaotic) present experienced by adolescents and the past, in order to regain the future. It allows us, as specialists in the field have said, to create “the roots to fly”, and to leave our mark on the future.
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