Volume 68 No.3（Open Access） - 2022-09-30

Presentism in History Teaching: Clarification of Historiographical and Instructional Approaches

Author：
Pei-Fen Sung / 宋佩芬
Keyword：
presentism, historical thinking, historical consciousness / 現在主義、歷史思維、歷史意識
  • Summary
  • Chinese Summary
  • Reference
  • Scholarly references
“Presentism” is regarded as a derogatory term in history. As such, history education is oriented toward evidential analysis that avoids presentism as a way of training students for “historical thinking.” However, for some historians, “presentism” is an indispensable source of asking historical questions and determining historical interpretation and significance. In history teaching, there has also been a teaching orientation that advocates “historical consciousness” as the goal of history teaching, involving thinking in terms of the past, present and future. This article explores the opponents’ and proponents’ views on the idea of “presentism” and explore their respective historiographies, set in view of historians and history teachers, in order to elucidate the idea and help enhance teachers’ ability to perceive and identify different teaching approaches and their underlying historiographies for the purpose of teachers’ mindful pedagogical choices. It also justifies the rationality of presentism in history teaching.
「現在主義」在歷史學中被認為是貶抑之詞，在歷史教學中亦產生了反現在主義的觀點下，以證據為導向的「歷史思維」訓練。然而，「現在主義」對於一些史學家而言，卻是不可或缺的問題意識與歷史解釋與意義的來源，在歷史教學中亦產生了主張以「歷史意識」為教學目標的教學取向，進行將過去、現在與未來做連結的歷史思考。本研究探討反對者和支持者對「現在主義」的歷史哲學看法，從歷史學家史家及歷史教學者的觀點闡明此一思想，除了能引發教師自覺其歷史哲學與教學取向外，也證成現在主義之於歷史教學之合理性。

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