The Didactics of History

an inventory of research trends in Europe and Canada

Abstract

The term "Didactics of History" is known in Brazil through texts and articles originating from the German investigative approach. For this and other reasons, some researchers do not accept these discussions, as they disagree with the analyses, especially those of Jörn Rüsen, believing that the field is exclusively limited to this Germanic framework and lacks theoretical and thematic diversity. However, this is a misconception. This present article represents an initiative to reflectively relate different research and historical learning experiences in countries such as Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Canada. We demonstrate that researchers in various locations, while sometimes having overlapping concepts and sometimes distinguishing themselves through local initiatives, approach history education by integrating the frameworks of historical theory, historiography, and education. We highlight concepts such as "thinking historically," "history labs," and the structuring of variations of the notion of "historical consciousness" across multiple contexts. Finally, we emphasize that another common element in these works is the protagonism of students' and teachers' ideas in the collective process of building school historical knowledge.