Abstract:
In a rapidly changing world, the aim of history education is to equip students with historical thinking—a highly important yet complex set of competencies ranging from navigating multiple perspectives to critically evaluating narratives (Lévesque, 2023). Apart from being difficult to measure (Körber & Meyer-Hamme, 2015), historical thinking is hard to learn (Wineburg, 2010), and the subject faces motivational challenges (e.g., Haydn & Harris, 2010). A promising way to address these challenges is providing a real-world connection (e.g., Betz et al., 2016), but authentic learning faces a dilemma between fostering motivational and cognitive outcomes (Nachtigall et al., 2024). In history education, working with eyewitnesses is popular, previous research on its effects is scarce and has highlighted motivational potential, but also risks for learning, which might be due to students getting overwhelmed, especially in in-person encounters (Bertram et al., 2017). Due to scarce robust empirical research, it remains unclear how to mitigate risks, what effects to expect in the classroom, and which mechanisms underpin these effects.
To comprehensively address these gaps, this dissertation’s context is an interdisciplinary research project that used a randomized controlled field trial (RCT) to investigate effects of an optimized eyewitness approach. Key objectives were to contribute both empirically and theoretically to central questions of why, how, and when working with eyewitnesses is effective. To do so, the dissertation is theoretically framed by a model of learning with eyewitnesses and synthesizes findings from authentic learning with those on eyewitnesses in history lessons. The three empirical studies focus on key aspects: learning conditions, mechanisms, and outcomes. Study 1 developed two standardized tests to assess historical thinking in the RCT, in which Study 2 investigated the effects of an eyewitness approach (either in-person or with videos) compared to regular lessons in a sample of 1,301 students. Study 3 examined remaining differential effects between in-person and video encounters, focusing on learning processes. Overall, this dissertation provides substantial theoretical and empirical contributions by using a model that tracks the learning process and employing an experimental design to investigate effects of working with eyewitnesses on important learning outcomes in real-world history classrooms.
Randomized controlled field trial