Fostering Secondary Students’ Historical Thinking: A Design Study in Flemish History Education

A recent curriculum reform in Flanders (Belgium) has introduced historical thinking as a central goal for history education. Historical thinking aims to introduce students to the methods of historians and disciplinary ways of thinking. It is a complex act, requiring the application of substantive and second-order knowledge, and is difficult to foster among students. International (intervention) research has provided several guidelines for the design of instructional practices that are effective in promoting specific aspects of students’ historical thinking. However, these studies do not approach historical thinking in a holistic manner, are often vague about how general design principles were adapted to history education, and rarely report on whether the designed curricula were considered relevant and useful by teachers. Taking into account the many difficulties that teachers encounter in designing practices aimed at historical thinking, this design research aims to gain more insight into the design of instructional practices that are both effective in fostering historical thinking in a holistic manner and that are considered socially valid by teachers. The designed artifact is a 12- to 14-h lesson series on the theme “decolonization after 1945,” for students in the 12th grade. It applies the model of cognitive apprenticeship’s (Collins et al., 1991) general design principles to the specific context of history and approaches historical thinking in a holistic manner. The initial lesson series was evaluated and revised in two rounds based on a pilot study, an expert review and an intervention study.