ABSTRACT
Barton (2001b), Barton & Levstik (1996), Levstik & Barton (1996), Levstik & Pappas
(1987); see also Brophy & VanSledright (1997)
Students do not always see themselves as part of history.
In our interviews with children from first grade through middle school, we have found
that all of them know something about how things were different in the past. Less often
do they have a clear idea what history means. Because students usually don’t encounter
the subject at school before fourth grade, they sometimes don’t even clearly recognize the
word; those who have heard it may link it with the past generally (“antiques and old stuff”),
or may associate it with famous people or events. But rarely do they realize that they are
part of history, or that they have a history of their own. A seventh-grader trying to explain
the difference between science and history observed that he and the other students were
part of science, because it was about them and the world around them-”We’re in
science,” he pointed out, “but we’re not in history.” Because too many students do not
see themselves as being “in history,” developing a sense of what the subject is all about
and how it relates to them must be one of the teacher’s first and most important goals.
