The course aims to provide a thoughtful and critical approach to the categories, tools and resources for studying and teaching history.

At the end of the course, students will have developed 1. understanding of the multiple histories that intertwin in what is usually called 'History' and of the multiple angles through which reading the past 2. knowledge of the many sources of history and how to select them according to the questions we ask to the past and the type of knowledge we intend to transmit in our teaching activities 3. familiarity with different methodological approaches, focusing global history, women's and gender history and environmental history as essential lenses for teaching history today 4. ability to elaborate a teaching historical project and to discuss/defend it in front of the class.

Starting from the question 'what is history?', the course deals with the possibilities, forms and ways of teaching what history has defined 'the past'.

In other words, the course intends to problematise the relationship between the past and its representation through a critical analysis of the categories which history employes to conceptualize, narrates and teach the past: not only events, epochs, periodisations, and sources, but also the non-linear time and increasingly global space of history, its multiple subjects, with a specific focus on gender as an essential historiographical category, and the intricate relationship between man and the natural environment over time. The course will also address the topic of the public use of history, which has a wide-ranging impact in education, starting with the process of the increasing 'memorisation' of the past and ending with the so-called 'cancel culture'.

The course will be divided in the five following sections:

1.  What is history, its public use and the purpose of teaching it

2. Innovative historiographical trends (global history, women and gender history, environmental history)

3. Historical sources, with a special focus on popular and iconographic ones, and digital tools for teaching history

4. Seminars held by scholars and experienced teachers from the primary schools on the relationship between critical pedagogy and history

5. In the last part of the course, students will present to the class sample teaching modules. After the presentation, the teaching module will be discussed by the class according the innovatice teaching form of the debate

No bridging courses are required.

Knowledge and understanding. At the end of the course the student must demonstrate an understanding of the potential, problems and critical issues inherent to history as a form of knowledge of the past to be transmitted in the present.

Applying knowledge and understanding. Students are expected to acquire the ability to apply their knowledge by developing projects and teaching modules on historical thematic units.

Making judgements The student must demonstrate a thoughtful use of historical categories, an innovative approach to times, spaces and subjects of history, autonomously developing teaching strategies and guidelines.

Communication skills. The student must be able to clearly and competently express themes and problems relating to the teaching of history.

Learning skills. At the end of the course the student will have acquired the ability to understand and critically analyse texts, sources, approaches and problems of history, together with the ability to transmit the acquired knowledge

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Seminars and lectures by external scholars will be proposed on topics such as gender history, cultural history and alternative forms of pedagogy.

Teaching

The course will propose alternatively lectures, viewings of films with historical content, class discussions, seminars by external scholars, and workshop activities.

Innovative teaching methods

In the workshop activities, the debate mode will be adopted, i.e. a regulated discussion and exchange of ideas on a historiographical topic to be identified collectively between 'antagonistic teams'. In other words, teams of students will be formed, each called upon to present a teaching project, which will be discussed by the 'antagonist team' in order to identify critical and weak points in the project. The class will act as an active audience and, at the same time, as a jury at the end of the debate.

Attendance

Attendance is not required.

Course books

In order to pass the exam, students must study the handbook and one of the monographs listed below:

Handbook

- S. Castro, G. Gola, R. Talarico, L’insegnamento della storia oggi. Didattica e storiografia per le scuole superiori, Carocci, 2023

Monographs

- F. Bellucci, A. Celi, L. Gazzetta, I secoli delle donne. Fonti e materiali per la didattica della storia, Viella, 2023 (fino a pagina 242)

- bell hooks, Insegnare a trasgredire. L'educazione come pratica di libertà, Meltemi, 2020 (fino a pagina 241)

- B. G.M. Del Bo, Didattica della storia. Insegnare storia in modo inclusivo e innovativo, Pearson, 2024

- A. Testi, I fastidi della storia. Quale America raccontano i monumenti, il Mulino, 2023

Students are asked to contact me by email to communicate the monograph they choose, at least one week before the exam.

Assessment

Written exam of 6 open questions: five questions on the textbook and one longer, more general question on the monograph. The score of the textbook will weigh 75% (22.5 points) on the overall assessment, while the score of the monograph will weigh the remaining 25% (7.5 points). Exam lenght: 70 minutes.

The exam will be graded with excellent marks as it proves: the student's possession of good critical and in-depth study skills; the ability to link together the main themes addressed in the course; the use of appropriate language with respect to the specific nature of the discipline.

The exam will be graded with good marks as it proves: the student's possession of a mnemonic knowledge of the contents; a relative critical capacity and the ability to connect the topics dealt with; the use of appropriate language.

The exam will be graded with satisfactory marks as it proves: the student's attainment of a minimal knowledge of the topics dealt with, even in the presence of some formative gaps; the use of inappropriate language.

The exam will be graded with negative marks as it proves: difficulty in the student's orientation in relation to the topics dealt with in the examination texts; formative gaps; the use of inappropriate language.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

The professor is available on zoom or during the office hours to support non attending students.

Attendance

Attendance is not required.

Course books

In order to pass the exam, students must study the handbook and one of the monographs listed below:

Handbook

- S. Castro, G. Gola, R. Talarico, L’insegnamento della storia oggi. Didattica e storiografia per le scuole superiori, Carocci, 2023

Monographs

- F. Bellucci, A. Celi, L. Gazzetta, I secoli delle donne. Fonti e materiali per la didattica della storia, Viella, 2023 (fino a pagina 242)

- bell hooks, Insegnare a trasgredire. L'educazione come pratica di libertà, Meltemi, 2020 (fino a pagina 241)

- B. G.M. Del Bo, Didattica della storia. Insegnare storia in modo inclusivo e innovativo, Pearson, 2024

- A. Testi, I fastidi della storia. Quale America raccontano i monumenti, il Mulino, 2023

Students are asked to contact me by email to communicate the monograph they choose, at least one week before the exam.

In order to give non-attending students the opportunity to compensate for what is done during the lectures, the following materials referring to the same contents of the programme are indicated in order to support student learning at home:

- G. Albini, A. Raviola, Nel tempo e nello spazio. Manuale di metodologia dello studio della storia, Pearson, 2022.

- Slide of the lecturer's lessons uploaded on Blended

Assessment

The assessment process is the same of the attending students

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.