Viden mellem elev og fag – historieundervisning som dynamisk kommunikation

The article puts a fundamental focus on conceptions of knowledge in relation to history as a school subject. And in particularly the conceptions as they are reflected and expressed through history teaching and attempts to establish relations between the student and the subject matter i.e. the disciplinary basis and origin of history as school subject. The article takes a theoretical position on a problem in history teaching practice. The problem concerns an often seen accentuation of the student as a basic didactical concern in history teaching when it comes to learning subject oriented content. The article questions this approach by emphasising the important and central role that teaching plays regarding communication processes between the student and the subject. The article argues that the teaching situation regarded as communication has the ability to create links and connect between the student and the subject matter due to the fact that teaching and learning represent fundamentally different systems existing next to each other yet disconnected in teaching situations. A didactical analysis which is focusing solely on the student when discussing history teaching issues risks discussing an aspect of teaching to which there is no access. The article therefore examines how links and connections between the student and the subject matter might become possible if teaching regarded as a communication situation is aware of distinguishing between pieces of information, how this information is communicated, received and understood. An important aspect of this, concerns to what extent the process is influencing episodic or semantic student knowledge. The theoretical approach that supports the article discussion is based on concepts from systems theory and cognitive psychology