Popularising History: Re-igniting pre-service teacher and student interest in history via historical fiction

This paper seeks to investigate the recent trends in the popularising of history and its impact on teaching and learning. History, as a subject area, has been the object of renewed focus from the media. In recent years there has been a steady increase in the amount of fiction, films, television show...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Howell, Jennifer
Format: Journal Article
Published: Edith Cowan University 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39469
_version_ 1848755599379005440
author Howell, Jennifer
author_facet Howell, Jennifer
author_sort Howell, Jennifer
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper seeks to investigate the recent trends in the popularising of history and its impact on teaching and learning. History, as a subject area, has been the object of renewed focus from the media. In recent years there has been a steady increase in the amount of fiction, films, television shows, documentaries and children’s programs situated in or concerned with historical events, eras or historical figures. The use of historical fiction in the history classroom has been well debated and has polarised practitioners of the subject. Regardless of the profession being divided on its use, the number of historical novels published each year has increased. There is a popular groundswell of support amongst the public for historical novels, films and television programs and this requires teachers of history to re-evaluate their use in the classroom. In Australia, due to the implementation of The Australian Curriculum, there is a renewed focus on historical literacy. It is here that the historical novel may make a contribution to the history discipline. This paper seeks to explore these recent trends and situate them within the current climate of curriculum reform occurring in Australia. It also seeks to present the findings of a small pilot concerned with exploring the use of historical fiction in pre-service teacher education programs.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T08:58:52Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-39469
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T08:58:52Z
publishDate 2014
publisher Edith Cowan University
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-394692017-09-13T16:05:06Z Popularising History: Re-igniting pre-service teacher and student interest in history via historical fiction Howell, Jennifer This paper seeks to investigate the recent trends in the popularising of history and its impact on teaching and learning. History, as a subject area, has been the object of renewed focus from the media. In recent years there has been a steady increase in the amount of fiction, films, television shows, documentaries and children’s programs situated in or concerned with historical events, eras or historical figures. The use of historical fiction in the history classroom has been well debated and has polarised practitioners of the subject. Regardless of the profession being divided on its use, the number of historical novels published each year has increased. There is a popular groundswell of support amongst the public for historical novels, films and television programs and this requires teachers of history to re-evaluate their use in the classroom. In Australia, due to the implementation of The Australian Curriculum, there is a renewed focus on historical literacy. It is here that the historical novel may make a contribution to the history discipline. This paper seeks to explore these recent trends and situate them within the current climate of curriculum reform occurring in Australia. It also seeks to present the findings of a small pilot concerned with exploring the use of historical fiction in pre-service teacher education programs. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39469 10.14221/ajte.2014v39n12.1 Edith Cowan University fulltext
spellingShingle Howell, Jennifer
Popularising History: Re-igniting pre-service teacher and student interest in history via historical fiction
title Popularising History: Re-igniting pre-service teacher and student interest in history via historical fiction
title_full Popularising History: Re-igniting pre-service teacher and student interest in history via historical fiction
title_fullStr Popularising History: Re-igniting pre-service teacher and student interest in history via historical fiction
title_full_unstemmed Popularising History: Re-igniting pre-service teacher and student interest in history via historical fiction
title_short Popularising History: Re-igniting pre-service teacher and student interest in history via historical fiction
title_sort popularising history: re-igniting pre-service teacher and student interest in history via historical fiction
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39469