Historical Thinking, Culture, and Education

Healthy histories

2025-07-02T07:55:09+00:00

There are rising concerns about adolescent (mental) health in the Netherlands. This article explores how history education can contribute to students’ Critical Health Literacy (CHL). We identify five interrelated ways in which historical thinking is connected to CHL. Additionally, we present three pedagogical approaches for implementation: The use of diachronic health themes, the application of a well-being framework, and the Strange Past contextualization framework. These approaches offer practical entry points for integrating CHL across the history curriculum. While we acknowledge that history teachers are not health professionals, and empirical research is still emerging, this article serves as an exploratory contribution. Our article invites further dialogue and investigation into the potential of history education to foster students’ resilience and well-being.

The integration of history teaching practice and practitioners into history education journals

2026-04-27T10:24:25+00:00

This paper examines the extent to which German-language academic journals of history education serve not only as publication platforms for researchers but are also relevant to the wider community – particularly to practitioners such as teachers. It notes that there is a striking lack of reader surveys that would reveal the actual function these journals fulfil. The presentation of journals as communication platforms and their significance for academic communities is followed by a discussion of discursive power differences between editorial teams, authors, academics and practitioners within the community. Finally, the central questions regarding the relationship between academic discourse and professional reflection, and the significance of professional experiential knowledge in academic debates, are discussed.

Uses of history

2025-07-31T07:33:37+00:00

History is constantly used in different contexts with different purposes, and people encounter uses of history in their everyday lives. Views of history and how it is framed could be tendentious and intentionally exaggerating, or neglecting historical facts and contexts. Accordingly, it is important to teach students to analyse and reflect – to decode and interpret – the uses of history. The article explores how history is used by various individuals and groups for different purposes. It emphasises that history is not just about studying past events, but also about understanding how these events are interpreted and used in contemporary contexts. A framework for analysing uses of history, a basic model for practical teaching is presented with exercises and questions for classroom activities.

From playing to designing

2026-04-23T12:08:59+00:00

War is a highly relevant topic in contemporary society, youth culture, and history education. At the same time, digital games have become an important part of historical culture, including representations of war and violence. This article examines their significance for history and civic education in Austria. It argues that, despite clear curricular requirements, digital games have so far played only a marginal role in Austrian classrooms. Research further suggests that commercial war games often privilege combat, soldierly agency, and immersive battle experience, while neglecting civilian perspectives, war crimes, and broader social contexts. Against this background, the article discusses the co-constructive development of digital games with students as an alternative didactic approach. Such a model may foster multiperspectival historical-political learning, strengthen critical engagement with historical culture, and connect historical meaning-making with media education and basic digital education.

On the complexity and limitations of the concept “Multiperspectivity”

2025-11-18T20:29:09+00:00

Multiperspectivity has become a widely used concept in history education, but also in other subjects, such as geography (e.g., Bedford & Barnes, 2024; Efimova & Nygren, 2026; Körber, 2001; Rowan & Wansink, 2025). It seems to have become a buzzword that is presented as a solution to all kinds of problems in our increasingly diverse, yet also polarized Western societies (Damhuis & Wansink, 2024). At the same time, the concept is facing growing criticism (see, among others, Hartendorp et al., 2023; Merry, 2025). In this miniature, I provide a definition of the term “multiperspectivity,” and examine its origins. I will argue that multiperspectivity is an important and indispensable concept for educators, but it can create epistemological, moral, constitutional, psychological, and practical challenges that can lead to different forms of relativism. Therefore, these challenges should be further explored in both theory and practice.

Decoding emotions

2026-03-25T08:46:44+00:00

The ability to entertain and consider the perspective of a historical person is frequently considered to be an essential element of historical thinking. However, students with autism spectrum disorder – a group whose historical thinking has so far not been the subject of empirical research – often struggle with adopting someone else’s perspective. This paper discusses the challenges autistic students encountered when faced with historical source material and asked to mentally change perspectives, as well as the strategies they employed in this situation. Arguing from the perspective of neurodiversity, this paper outlines the potential for all learners – neurodiverse and neurotypical alike – contained in these strategies.