Latest Module Specifications
Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026
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Description In this module, students will examine the theory and research underpinning children’s historical thinking while actively engaging with embodied, practical approaches to history. Alongside reflective study, students will participate in experimental archaeology and other experiential activities designed to bring the past to life through making, doing and re-creating historical practices. These exemplars will serve as pedagogical tools to reflect on how embodied engagement can deepen children’s historical learning. Through immersive workshops (indoors, outdoors and on-site at historical or reconstructed settings), the module will explore key themes in history education such as the purpose of school history, historical consciousness and the lived, material dimensions of the past. Students will engage with the five stages of the History Enquiry Framework (Ní Cassaithe, 2020) and explore how embodied, experimental and creative strategies can support purposeful historical enquiries. In doing so, they will consider how active re-creation and hands-on engagement can help children confront epistemic challenges, rethink assumptions about the past and make meaningful connections to the present. Throughout the module, students will be encouraged to challenge their own assumptions about the teaching of history and to develop a personal teaching statement that articulates their evolving understanding of history and history education. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Learning Outcomes 1. Demonstrate knowledge of historical enquiry, experimental archaeology and active learning as effective pedagogies to support children’s historical understanding. 2. Draw on current research on children’s historical thinking and embodied learning to design active learning activities for teaching in the history classroom. 3. Engage with the historical enquiry cycle and how it can be used to plan purposeful historical enquiries that integrate practical, experiential approaches. 4. Source, use and create a range of innovative and appropriate resources (including digital) to ensure inclusive teaching and learning experiences in history education. 5. Reflect on embodied, creative and research-informed practices to develop a personal teaching statement for history education. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml |
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Indicative Content and Learning Activities
Indicative Content This course will provide students with a research-informed rationale for teaching primary history by developing a deep knowledge and understanding of historical thinking, experiential learning and historical enquiry as pedagogical pillars for teaching and learning history. In each seminar, students will discuss and review key considerations in planning for history. Pedagogical content knowledge will be developed through engagement with and reflection on exemplar activities. Student readings will be carried out through using a range of hands-on activities, allowing them to engage with and analyse a broad range of literature in history education including practitioner-based book chapters and peer-reviewed research articles in a creative way. Seminars This module allows students to critically reimagine the teaching of history in Irish primary classrooms through the lens of historical consciousness, inclusive pedagogies and interdisciplinary learning in alignment with the evolving vision of the NCCA SEE curriculum. Drawing on contemporary research, policy and global educational movements, they will actively explore history not just as a body of knowledge but as a process of enquiry, interpretation and engagement with the past. Using the five-stage Historical Enquiry Framework (Ní Cassaithe, 2020) as a key pedagogical approach to both planning and teaching history, they will actively engage with learning experiences that draw on each stage of this framework. Through practical workshops focused on active learning strategies, the course content draws on a range of age-appropriate resources such as visual, documentary, oral and physical evidence and demonstrates how these can be used to explore enquiry-based learning approaches in the classroom. Creative, enquiry-led planning and assessment strategies will be exemplified in each of the seminars to allow students to engage successfully with the planning, teaching and assessment of history in junior and senior primary classroom. Students will engage with historical periods: Stone Age Ireland, Viking Ireland and Medieval Ireland through hands-on activities and will be introduced to an in-depth examination of historical enquiry through active learning. n/a | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Indicative Reading List Books:
Articles:
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Other Resources
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