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Why Learn history? No one is teaching us the truth anyway? : a report from Cyprus on 17-18 year old Greek-Cypriot students' constructions of history through conflicting accounts

[Abstract] 
Type Chapter
Document no. 14743
Author Georgiou, Maria. PhD, Institute of Education, University of London
Varying form of title ما الفائدة من تعلم التاريخ، فلا أحد يقول لنا الحقيقة على أي حال! :تقرير من قبرص عن طرقية بناء طلاب قبارصة يونان من عمر 17-18 سنة منظورهم للتاريخ انطلاقا من روايات متضاربة [فصل]
Apprendre l'histoire? Pourquoi faire, surtout que, de toute façon, personne ne nous dit la vérité? un dossier du Chypre [Chapitre]
Pages pp. 113-133
Host Item Entry Learning and teaching history : lessons from and for Lebanon: Seventh Yearbook
Translation title جيورجيو، ماريا. ما الفائدة من تعلم التاريخ، فلا أحد يقول لنا الحقيقة على أي حال! : تقرير من قبرص عن طرقية بناء طلاب قبارصة يونان من عمر 17-18 سنة منظورهم للتاريخ انطلاقا من روايات متضاربة.
Electronic Location Full text (PDF)  PDF
Descriptors History instruction  -  Secondary school students  -  Secondary education  -  Case studies  -  Cyprus
Language of document English
Country Lebanon
This paper reports findings from a case study on Greek-Cypriot secondary students’ constructions of historical conflicting accounts. This research was conducted as a pilot study for the purposes of the researcher’s MPhil/PhD, which was initiated at the Institute of Education, University of London. Thus, the findings reported at this stage are only indicative and in no way suggest any kind of generalization. The study was conducted at a semi-urban school of Nicosia, the capital of the Republic of Cyprus, in October of 2010. Seventeen students of 17-18 year old participated. The research was carried in three stages with the means of questionnaires, two sets of conflicting accounts and group interviews. Facilitating grounded theory, three thematic clusters emerged: 1) Views on history; 2) Handling of the accounts; 3) ‘Truthfulness’. Notably, a first general finding was on students’ (constructive) engagement with history. The suggestion that “everyone knows what history is, until he starts thinking about it” (Griffin cited in Barton & Levstik, 2004, p.4) could perfectly describe the general feeling that came out of the pilot study. Within the first thematic cluster and views on history, students argued strongly on the (traditional) use of history. In relation to the second cluster, and the handling of the conflicting accounts, there was a general reluctance in articulating how and why accounts might differ. The findings suggested that students often believe that different accounts might be narrating the same things but in different ways/words, or that different narrations exist due to (deliberate) bias. In relation to the third thematic cluster on ‘truthfulness’, whereas findings from the questionnaires demonstrated a general affirmation of history’s positivist use, moving through the three stages, students did not show confidence in the growth of historical knowledge and its capacity on reaching truthfulness. The findings in their total suggest a strong association between students’ ontological beliefs and their research background, raising a series of challenges for further research and suggesting that it should be possible to develop historical understanding by adopting a systematic and vigilant pedagogical approach. (Author’s Abstract)

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Cite   (APA) Style Always review your references for accuracy and make any necessary corrections before using:
Georgiou, Maria.. (2012). Why Learn history? No one is teaching us the truth anyway? : a report from Cyprus on 17-18 year old Greek-Cypriot students' constructions of history through conflicting accounts. In Learning and teaching history : lessons from and for Lebanon: Seventh Yearbook. (pp. 113-133 ). Retrieved from search.shamaa.org