Thinking about anti-Semitism in classroom

teaching and learning history

Abstract

This article is focused on a situation of good practices of teaching and learning history, with students between 14 and 17 years old, about a complex question: the anti-Semitism in nazi Germany. This situation was observed during a research in Portugal (supervised by Isabel Barca) about the way teaching and learning practices contributed to the development and assessment of students’ historical competencies. It was intended to provide further understanding of how these competencies enabled, or not, better temporal orientation of the students suitable to the challenges of the modern society.

The methodology was inspired by Grounded Theory because it allows a constant rethinking of categories. Data were collected through direct observation of classes-in action, teacher’s interviews and students’ answers. Inductive analysis and data triangulation showed that: a) teachers don’t reveal a single model of teaching, tending to vacillate between profiles of teaching and learning moments from mere transmission to student-centered moments with challenging tasks; b) it was possible to establish a relationship between those profiles and the students’ competencies development (expressed in a model of three level), being evident that the tasks’ sophistication increases students' understanding of History.