Seixas, Peter. “Students’ Understanding of Historical Significance.” Theory and Research in Social Education 23.3 (1994): 281-304.

Students’ Understanding of Historical Significance

Peter Seixas writes that “[a] historical phenomenon becomes significant if and only if members of a contemporary community can draw relationships between it and other historical phenomena and ultimately to themselves” (285). He then poses this question,

“ Which phenomena do students see as significant?” (285).

This study focuses on what students consider to be of historical significance and why. Admittedly, this is a very small study, based on fourteen tenth grade students attending a middle class school in Canada. These students were asked to rate the three most important developments/events that have occurred in the past five hundred years. The three topics that emerged were the world wars, the rise and fall of communism and the finding of the “New World”. The basis for these selections appears to be the large number of people that were affected by each and the long-term effects of these events today.

Acknowledging that it is impossible to teach “everything”, the author concludes “No matter how well chosen, a simple framework of historical context-organized either as a state or provincial curriculum or as a national standard-does not necessarily provide students with a significant past” (300). But rather, Seixas believes careful consideration of the student’s perception of historical significance would greatly improve both the teaching and the learning of history. He admits that curriculum planners have a challenging task and suggests using a checklist to ask students to “prioritize historical phenomena on the basis of significance and conceptual mapping, as well as questions asking students to explain their choices… further insight into students’ reasoning could be attained through analysis of video recordings of discussions among small groups as they attempt to resolve questions of historical significance” (299). Also, an additional article by Seixas, “ Mapping the Terrain of Historical Significance”, (Social Education, January 1997, pp. 22-27) offers a student questionnaire and exercise to facilitate the determination of what students view to be historically significant.