Learning and teaching about the past: three to eight years old = Aprendendo e ensinando sobre o passado a crianças de três a oito anos

This paper considers how we can help young children to engage with the\ud past, in ways which reflect genuine historical enquiry. It defines the key\ud process of historical thinking, at any lever as: discussing the causes and\ud effects of changes over time; making inferences from historical sources in\ud order to construct accounts of the past using specialized vocabulary, and\ud understanding why-historical accounts may differ but be equally valid. The\ud paper then considers ways in which the constructivist learning theories of\ud Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner, and subsequent research based on their work, can\ud be applied to history, from children’s earliest years, and in increasingly\ud complex ways. It argues the importance of learning history as a dimension of\ud early years education in ways which are meaningful to children and multi\ud perspectival; which allow them to hypothesise, evaluate, support ideas\ud with arguments, listen to others and recognize that sometimes there is no\ud right answer. It then suggests many familiar contexts in which young children\ud can begin to discuss the causes and effects of changes over time, make\ud inferences about a variety of historical sources and construct, compare\ud interpretations of the past and understand why they may vary. It is argued\ud that learning about the past is an integral part of social, emotional, as well as\ud cognitive development. The paper concludes with extracts from dialogue\ud which illustrate progression in children’s reasoning about the past.\ud Key-words: Teaching History; Historical Education; Constructivist.\ud \ud RESUM