Challenges of the large survey subject: teaching and learning how to read history

You are here

Research and Development in Higher Education Vol. 32: The Student Experience

July, 2009, 715 pages
Published by
Helen Wozniak and Sonia Bartoluzzi
ISBN
0 908557 78 7
Abstract 

The large survey subject is a challenge to all humanities teachers, but many of the problems it poses are specific to each discipline. This paper tracks the difficulties of teaching a first year university history subject, as class sizes increase and the traditional tutorial delivery mode is placed under pressure through financial constraints and administrative policy. It utilises the emerging literature on teaching and learning history, History SoTL, which reflects a new interest in disciplinary-specific pedagogical practices. This paper outlines the moves I have made - in keeping with recent the historiographical emphasis on developing students’ historical consciousness, rather than simply expecting students to acquire knowledge of past events – to give students a better understanding of how historians think, read and write.

Keywords: decoding the disciplines, HistorySoTL, reading tools