Den här studien tar sin utgångspunkt i en av de förändringar som införandet av läroplanen 2011 innebar, nämligen att mellanstadieelever ska ges möjlighet att utveckla sin förmåga att föra historiska resonemang. Syftet är att bidra med kunskap om relationen mellan lärares planering för och mellanstadieelevers utveckling av historiskt resonerande och ämneslitteracitet. Genom deltagande observation följdes två lärare när de planerade arbetsområdet medeltiden och när lektionerna genomfördes i en klassi årskurs 5. Det empiriska materialet består av ljudupptagningar och fältanteckningar från planeringstillfällen, helklasslektioner, grupparbeten och elevtexter. Epistemologiskt utgår studien från antagandet att kunskap är socialt situerad, vilket är gemensamt för de teorier som används. Det historiska resonerandet sker i ett socialt sammanhang och ställer krav både på förmågan till historiskt tänkande och på förmågan att uttrycka sig i historia. I studien kombineras därför historiedidaktiska teorier om historiskt tänkande och resonerande med historiespecifik litteracitet.

Resultatet visar att eleverna kan föra enkla former av historiska resonemang. Uppgifterna och den stöttning eleverna erbjuds i undervisningen är de redskap med vars hjälp de ges möjligheter att utveckla denna förmåga och att utveckla historiespecifik litteracitet. Uppgifterna i studien domineras av att vara öppna och manar eleverna till att vara aktiva och att samarbeta, men de organiserande begreppen och resonemangsformerna är ofta implicita. Den planerade stöttningen karaktäriseras av att gå från gemensamt arbete med uppgifter i helklass, till i smågrupper och avslutningsvis att genomföra dem individuellt. Eleverna ges med andra ord rika tillfällen till interaktion vilket är ett viktigt stöd i att utveckla det historiska resonerandet, däremot skulle de organiserande begreppen och det historiespecifika skrivandet kunna explicitgöras i större utsträckning.

Det nära samarbetet i studien mellan lärarna och forskaren gör att studien kan vara en del i att fylla gapet mellan teori och praktik och mellanrummet mellan akademi och skola. Studien bidrar dessutom till den vetenskapliga grunden för mellanstadiets historieundervisning.

This study is based on one of the changes introduced by the Swedish curriculum in 2011, namely that middle school students should be given the opportunity to develop their ability to reason historically. The overall purpose of the study is to contribute knowledge about the relationship between teachers’ planning for and middle school students’ development of historical reasoning and disciplinary literacy with examples from a subject area about Swedish Middle Ages. The study examines the opportunities that students in grade 5 are offered to develop the ability to reason historically and to develop disciplinary literacy in history teaching.

Epistemologically, the study is based on the assumption that knowledge is socially situated, which is common to the theories used. Historical reasoning takes place in a social context and demands both the ability to think historically and the ability to express oneself in history. The study therefore combines history didactic theories about historical thinking and reasoning with history-specific literacy.

The research questions originate from problems and difficulties that history teachers in middle school experience in their teaching. To get answers to these questions, the practice-based research approach Educational design research has been used. Through participant observation, two teachers were followed in the planning and implementation of history teaching in a class in grade 5 for 12 weeks. The empirical material consists of audio recordings and field notes from planning sessions and whole class lessons, audio recordings of group works and collection of student texts, both individual and collective.

The licentiate thesis consists of two peer-reviewed articles, both published, and a commentary:

Article 1 sheds light on middle school teachers’ conceptions of what historical reasoning entails specifically in writing and how teachers plan their lessons based on this. Seven planning sessions and one concluding conversation were followed through participant observation. A phenomenographic and a thematic analysis was made to answer the research questions. The results show that the teachers conceive of written reasoning in history as a) understanding the historical content, b) the active use of content concepts, c) shifting between time and space perspectives and d) perceiving text qualities. The results also show that teaching, according to the teachers, needs to include the use of teaching materials, be visually supportive, collaborative, reflective and attentive to text structure and linguistic patterns.

Article 2 contributes knowledge about the opportunities that history teaching offers 5th grade students regarding historical reasoning, focusing on both historical thinking and history-specific literacy. The empirical material was collected during 15 lessons and analysed based on a model of historical reasoning and on theory of history-specific texts. The analysis is supported by a grammatical focus on temporality and causality. The result shows that middle school students use simple text activities such as retelling in historical reasoning about continuity and change. To a lesser extent, more complex textual activities, such as explanation and argumentation, which are important for historical reasoning about causes and consequences. However, oral processing of historical material offers opportunities to try more complex forms of historical reasoning and text activities.

In the commentary the articles are related to each other through a synthesising analysis. The result of this analysis shows that middle school students are able to engage in simple forms of historical reasoning. The tasks and the scaffolding offered to students in the classroom are the tools that enable them to develop this ability and to develop history-specific literacy. The tasks in the study are predominantly open-ended and encourage students to be active and collaborative, but the organising concepts and forms of reasoning are often implicit. The planned scaffolding is characterised by moving from joint work on tasks in whole class, to small groups and finally to individual work. In other words, students are given ample opportunities for interaction, which is an important scaffolding in developing historical reasoning, but the organising concepts and history-specific writing could be made more explicit. One of the reasons why this is not already done may be that middle school teachers are often qualified in several subjects and thus may not have acquired sufficient knowledge of history, history didactics, and disciplinary literacy during their university education. In addition, the design of the history syllabus seems to have been influenced by history didactic research that has been carried out mainly in relation to older students. This also means that the middle school teachers do not have much scientific research to refer to, which means that they try out by themselves. With this study, I want to contribute to filling the research gap in Swedish context when it comes to historical reasoning in the middle school.

Synen på historieundervisning i grundskolan har förskjutits i linje med förändringar i historiedidaktisk forskning avseende vad som är viktigt att kunna. Redan årskurs 6-elever ska kunna resonera i historia för att nå ett godkänt betyg, vilket mellanstadielärare kan uppfatta är högt ställda krav på eleverna. Denna studie vill bidra med kunskap om vilka möjligheter historieundervisningen erbjuder årskurs 5-elever när det gäller att resonera historiskt med fokus på både historiskt tänkande och historiespecifik litteracitet. Empirin består av ljudupptagningar från deltagande observation av historieundervisning samt elevtexter. Materialet analyseras utifrån komplementära teorier: en modell för historiskt resonerande och en teori om historiespecifika texter. Dessa representerar två forskningsfält som båda behövs för att nyanserat fånga innehåll och uttryck. Analysen stöds genom ett grammatiskt fokus på temporalitet och kausalitet. Studien visar att mellanstadieelever använder enklare textaktiviteter som återberättelse i historiska resonemang om kontinuitet och förändring. Mindre ofta förekommer komplexa textaktiviteter, t.ex. förklaring och argumentation, vilka är viktiga för exempelvis resonemang om orsaker och konsekvenser. Genom muntlig bearbetning av historiskt stoff öppnas dock möjligheter att pröva mer komplexa former av historiskt resonerande och textaktiviteter. För att ytterligare stödja utvecklingen av förmågan till historiskt resonerande skulle undervisningen dock behöva tydligare synliggöra samhällsstrukturer, kausala samband, pers­pektivtaganden och textstruktur.

Can 5^th grade students learn historical reasoning? The expression of historical thinking through reasoning and history-specific literacy in the making

History teaching in primary school has shifted in line with changes in history didactic research. By 6^th grade, students must have mastered historical reasoning to pass examination. This study contributes knowledge about opportunities that history teaching offers 5^th grade students regarding historical reasoning, focusing on both historical thinking and history-specific literacy. Data were generated through participant observation, audio recordings and the compilation of students’ texts. The material has been analysed using two complementary theories: a model for historical reasoning and a theory of history-specific texts. These theories represent two fields of research that are both needed to capture content and expression. The analysis is supported by a grammatical focus on temporality and causality. The study shows that students in grade 5 use simple text activities such as retelling in historical reasoning about continuity and change. Complex text activities, e.g., explanation and argumentation, which are important for reasoning about causes and consequences, occur less often. However, oral processing of historical material offers opportunities to try more complex forms of historical reasoning and text activities. To further support the development of historical reasoning skills, teaching should highlight social structures, causal relationships, perspective-taking and text structure more clearly.

With the introduction of the Swedish national curriculum, Curriculum for the compulsory school, preschool class and school-age educare, (Skolverket, 2017a), Swedish pupils will receive a more scientifically influenced history education in which they learn historical thinking. A requirement for this education is that pupils develop their reasoning abilities in their subjects. This survey takes its point of departure in this changed requirement, specifically in the skill of written reasoning. The article highlights seven planning sessions and one concluding conversation during which two fifth-grade teachers planned their history lessons with a focus on written reasoning. The aim of this work is to contribute to teachers' conceptions of how teaching can be designed to help pupils develop this ability. First, to gain insight into the teachers' conceptions of written historical reasoning, participant observation and a phenomenographic analysis of the data were carried out. The results show that teachers conceive of written reasoning in history as a) understanding the historical content, b) the active use of content concepts, c) shifting between time and room perspectives and d) perceiving text qualities. A thematic analysis was then conducted, and its results showed that teaching, according to the teachers, needs to include the use of study material, be visually supportive, collaborative, reflective and attentive to text structure and language patterns. In summary, the results reveal the complexity of planning history lessons for younger pupils, who should be given the opportunity to develop both historical thinking and the ability to conduct written historical reasoning.