ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an examination of specific factors within the subject which may affect the pupil's attitude towards it, particularly whether different aspects or periods of history have a significant influence on motivation. It presents the consideration of the kind of thinking and understanding that the study of history at school level demands and how this is related to the pupil's intellectual development and capacity. J. S. Bruner's own isolated illustrations from the historical field are not particularly happy ones, but the possible application of his ideas to history, the psychological and philosophical implications they contain, and how they relate to the objectives of history teaching, would be a fascinating and useful field of inquiry. Studies of the developing capacity of children to learn offer a useful framework to the teacher in classifying and assessing the level of thinking of his pupils, providing they are not applied too rigidly.
