Northampton Electronic Collection of Theses and Research

Learning to teach history writing: discovering what works

Harris, R. and Foreman-Peck, L. (2001) Learning to teach history writing: discovering what works. Educational Action Research. 9(1), pp. 97-109. 1747-5074.

Item Type: Article
Abstract: Statistics indicated under achievement by 18-year-old Advanced (A) level History students in a mixed comprehensive school, by comparison with their results in the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) at 16. Further investigation highlighted a weakness in essay writing. A teaching strategy was developed to improve essay writing by (a) clarifying the purpose of essay writing; (b) enhancing essay structuring; (c) ensuring students obtained a firm understanding of the topics studied; and (d) providing students with appropriate study skills to enable them to work effectively. An action plan, which drew heavily on the ideas of phenomenography (Hounsell, 1984, 1987), was devised to tackle these areas. The results of students who were taught in this way and who took their examinations in 1998 showed a dramatic improvement over the three previous years
Subjects: D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D16 Study and teaching
L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1025 Teaching (Principles and practice)
Creators: Harris, Richard and Foreman-Peck, Lorraine
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes: University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Faculty of Education & Humanities
Date: 1 January 2001
Date Type: Publication
Page Range: pp. 97-109
Journal or Publication Title: Educational Action Research
Volume: 9
Number: 1
Language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09650790100200141
ISSN: 1747-5074
Status: Published / Disseminated
Refereed: Yes
URI: http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/113

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