Arguing in History

A team from the Open University's Centre of Research in Education and Educational Technology (CREET) with funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has been investigating new electronic conferencing methodologies designed for history students and teachers.

In this project the development of debates around historical events through electronic conferencing was compared against the discussion that normally takes place in essays. Data were collected from Year 9 (age 14) classes in different schools; the topic for this study was the role of Adolf Hitler in the Nazi’s rise to power.
The results indicate that this electronic conferencing medium provides the potential for students and teachers to choose which sub-topics they feel motivated to engage with, to track shifting points of view and to reflect on the accuracy and strengths of the claims.
Follow up interviews revealed that the students enjoyed conferencing and that it gave  them greater confidence to engage in the debate with their peers and mentors.
The project extends early work on argumentation in higher education studies. It makes a contribution to our understanding of an important pedagogical tool and is beginning to inform both policy and practice.
 
Contact : Dr Caroline Coffin  c.coffin@open.ac.uk

The Centre for Language and Communication