Epistemic moves between the parts and the whole in history education

Recreating, orienting, problematizing, and experiencing as didactic functions in teachers' understandings of the history subject

Abstract

This article examines how epistemic moves between the parts and the whole can contribute to various didactic functions in history education. The purpose of the present article is aimed at investigating teachers' comprehension of history education and how their different selections of subject matter may contribute to various didactic functions. Two empirically oriented research questions are posed: (1) What different relationships between the parts and the whole can be identified in teachers' understanding of instructional content in the subject of history? (2) Based on the results, how can the different trade-offs between the parts and the whole, identified in teachers' understanding of history education, be observed in relation to different didactic functions? The method employed for this study involved semi-structured interviews with history teachers in grades 7-9. The result highlights how teachers move between the parts and the whole in their understanding of the selection of subject matter. This oscillation is also evident in the shift between drawing from a more delimited knowledge content and addressing students' own questions when formulating the knowledge content for history courses in school. Based on this, four didactic functions have been identified: Reproducing, Orienting, Problematizing, and Experiencing. Consequently, the findings contribute to a discussion on the situated trade-offs that can be made regarding the subject matter, content, and purpose of history education.