Hansiswany Kamarga
History Education FPIPS UPI
Paper submitted at the request of the committee at the Jakarta MGMP forum, 17 November 2000.
Understanding of Learning Dimensions
When students are in a learning position, it is necessary to pay attention to how learning proceeds within students, namely by understanding the dimensions of learning. McRel (1998: 3) explains that there are 5 (five) learning dimensions are interrelated with one another. Through an understanding of these learning dimensions, at least the focus of learning can be maintained. The five dimensions of learning are:
Attitude and perception
Attitudes and perceptions affect student learning abilities. If students have an unfavorable view of their class, they will not be able to learn much; Likewise, if students have a negative attitude towards their assignments in class, their learning outcomes are not as desired. A key element for effective learning is helping students to develop positive attitudes and perceptions about education and the classroom.
Knowledge acquisition and integration
Helping students to acquire and integrate new knowledge is another essential aspect of learning. When students learn about further information, they must be guided in connecting the latest knowledge with what they already know, organizing the data, then making it part of their knowledge in Long-term Memory (LTM), which is an internalization process.
Expansion and deepening of knowledge
Learning does not stop until acquiring and integrating knowledge. Students are expected to develop their knowledge more deeply by expanding and deepening understanding by analyzing what has been learned. The analysis process can be done through comparative studies, classification, abstraction, inductive/deductive, constructing, error analysis, perspective analysis.
Meaningful use of knowledge
Ensure that students have the opportunity to use their knowledge meaningfully. Learning that is considered most effective is when a command is used to perform meaningful tasks. Students will use their knowledge meaningfully through a learning process that can develop thinking skills such as decision making, problem-solving, discovery, investigation, experimentation, and system analysis.
The habit of using the mind productively.
Students who study effectively can develop thinking habits, especially in terms of critical thinking, creative thinking, and regulating their behavior.
All dimensions of the learning process are motivated by aspects of attitudes and perceptions (dimension 1) and habits of using the mind productively (dimension 5). If students have negative perceptions and attitudes about learning, then they will learn little. Still, on the contrary, if they have positive perceptions and perspectives, then they will learn more and more efficiently. Similarly, using productive thinking habits, these habits will make it easier for them to know. Thus, dimensions 1 and 5 are the factors behind students’ learning.
When positive perceptions and attitudes and productive thinking habits are used in learning, students can more effectively develop the other three learning dimensions, namely the acquisition and integration of knowledge (dimension 2), expansion and deepening of knowledge (dimension 3), and meaningful use of knowledge (dimension 2). 4). According to the position of the dimensions in the drawing, dimension 4 includes dimension two and dimension 3; Likewise, dimension 3 covers dimension 2. This shows a simultaneous nature, namely when a student expands and deepens knowledge, he has gone through the stages of acquiring and integrating knowledge and simultaneously using both dimensions. When students use knowledge meaningfully, they have gone through dimensions two and three and simultaneously utilize all three sizes.
Develop historical understanding
The interpretation of evidence refers to how something is made or used or what something means to society at that time. This means explaining the sequence of events (sequence) or behavior of individuals/groups. Because the evidence is not always complete, it is often open to various interpretations. To interpret, it is necessary to understand the mindset of the people of the past, their behavior, and feelings that are different from the present society because they live in a community with a diverse knowledge base, belief system, and worldview. Likewise, the social, political, and economic constraints faced by the past people were different from those of today. Here it appears that the historian’s task is not to reproduce the missing parts of the past but to develop questions about the history and try to answer them.
It is essential to understand that historians who use historical evidence are always based on criteria and validity:
- There is no contradictory evidence
- Based on the assumption that past societies behaved rationally
- The inference is supported by arguments and adapted to what is already known from the same period
Students must be accustomed to thinking about what lies behind the evidence because this is the focus of understanding history. Thus gradually, they must be accustomed to learning through discussion how to develop interpretations to understand historical validity.
Using historical concepts
Historical evidence can only be interpreted through language. To develop questions about evidence, it is necessary to use concepts. Some concepts refer to space and time, while others refer to methodologies such as similarities and differences, cause and effect, continuity, and change. Other concepts are the organization of ideas related to society, such as communication, power, trust, conflict. Students should be allowed to elaborate concepts through discussion and use them in a variety of contexts in an interactive situation because these concepts can make history meaningful.
Imagination in History
In terms of relation to historical imagination, there are 3 (three) aspects of psychological development, namely (a) working through creative thinking, (b) working to change perspectives, and (c) working based on psychodynamic theories (Cooper, 1992: 20). ).
Working through creative thinking:
Creative thinking has implications for how students can understand the valid range of evidence, namely how proof is created and used and what it means for society at that time. Guilford (1959) developed several traits/traits related to creativity: the ability to see problems, the growth of ideas, fluency in words (words), fluency in expression, flexible thinker who can produce various ideas or solving unusual problems. And has a tolerance for ambiguity.
Torrance (1965) used an “ask and guess” test through pictures to test hypotheses about the ability to develop cause-and-effect relationships to get an idea of imaginary solutions. The researchers concluded that creativity is a dimension that involves children’s ability to generalize unique relationships to align themselves in a particular context.
Research by McKeown & Beck (1990) shows that children often combine information obtained from various sources and elaborate imaginations from the information they receive when they construct responses to historical questions (VanSledright & Brophy, 1992: 840). From the teacher’s point of view, this student’s behavior is considered creative and shows internal logic even though it often seems incomplete and very innocent.
According to Egan (VanSledright & Brophy, 1992: 840), the development of students’ historical thinking can be classified into 4 (four) stages, namely the mythical stage, the romantic stage, the theoretical stage or seeing patterns, and the detailed historical study stage. In the myth stage, the past is given meaning if it has a relationship with present experiences, such as heroic stories searching for self-identity. In the romantic scene, children understand history as a dramatic narrative story, containing characters that are more dramatic than what they see daily, turbulent events. The theoretical stage has looked at history based on historical rules and laws. The stage of historical study in detail is the stage of understanding history as historical events occur. According to Egan, elementary school-age children’s understanding of history is in the mythical and romantic stages, where they see history in a heroic dimension and can distinguish between good and evil.
This conclusion for classroom teaching implies that creative thinking skills can be developed through divergent thinking and problem-solving exercises and conditioning the classroom environment so that children have confidence in their ability to think adventurously.
Working to change perspective:
Refers to developing the child’s ability to understand the feelings, thoughts, and behavior of individuals/communities in the past. Lee (1978) calls it empathy, namely the power to put oneself in a position as a historical actor (VanSledright & Brophy, 1992: 840). According to Piaget, this is more likely to be a cognitive process, namely how a person thinks from the point of view of others. The sequence in this process is closely related to how children accept the rules; namely, at first, they do not understand directions, then they begin to change their minds by applying the rules according to their needs (point of view). The next step is that children can accept the rigid and binding set (through habituation). In the end, they understand that rules can change in line with changes in society, and these rules are not absolute.
In historical terms, at first, they can see life from the point of view of others, but through the process of maturation, in the end, they can understand that rules and behavior change according to changes in society (Cooper, 1992: 21).
Work-based on the view of psychodynamic theory:
The development of historical imagination in children, according to Jones (1968), is gaining an understanding of the differences in society through the connection between emotions and the development of vision. According to Jones, children gain an experience of themselves and the differences between themselves and past cultures through cognitive development accompanied by emotions and imagination. Here it appears that there is a harmony between the development of cognitive and affective processes. Through psychodynamic theory, the development process involves creative fantasy exploration and understanding feelings so that the process is part of the formation of human experience (Cooper, 1992: 22).
Lee (1978) argues that an understanding of history includes:
- Knowledge of the motivations and concerns of historical actors.
- Development of the context associated with that motivation.
- Knowledge of the relationship between cause and the likelihood of events occurring in a given context.
If the actors’ motivation or the context is not understood, there may be a misunderstanding in understanding a historical event. To avoid these mistakes, empathy is needed, namely the ability to place oneself in the view of historical actors, which can be developed through imagination (VanSledright & Brophy, 1992: 840).
Dickinson & Lee (1984), in their research on understanding children’s history, suggests that there are levels of understanding related to empathy, namely:
- Responding cynically.
- Exploring based on initial experience.
- Developing explanations based on the motives of historical actors.
What he understands, and (d) reviewing the explanation of various possibilities / alternative understandings. Based on the classification of these levels, Dickinson & Lee’s research concludes that there are 2 (two) fundamental things that must be considered in developing imagination to understand history, namely (a) lack of essential knowledge experience to develop historical construction, and (b) lack of knowledge structure, so that challenging to give judgment in interpreting historical events. Here it appears that the ability of imagination can be developed through experience (skills) and knowledge. This is in line with the thoughts of Nash (1996: 2) that the primary foundation for understanding history is historical understanding and historical thinking skills.
Foundations of Studying History
According to Bettelheim (Nash, 1996: 2), studying history for early childhood is “rich food for their imagination, a sense of history, how the present situation comes about.” History will expand the child’s experience, as said by Phenix (Nash, 1996: 2), “a sense of personal involvement in exemplary lives and significant events, an appreciation of values and vision of greatness.” History connects each child to his “root” and develops a sense of personal belonging.
To achieve what was stated by Bettelheim and Phenix, the historical material that will be given to students is developed based on 2 (two) main foundations, namely:
Historical understanding
Historical understanding is defined as what children/students should know about history (family, society, country, and the world). This understanding is illustrated from the records (aspirations, efforts, treatments, failures) of human activities in social, political, science/technology, economic, and cultural aspects, which align with students’ level of understanding or development.
Introducing history to students, such as family history, community history, national history, and various cultural histories of nations in the world, will lead them to the lives, aspirations, struggles and efforts, and failures of authentic human life which are contextually adjusted to the level of maturity. Think them.
Through history gained a deep understanding of society, differences and changes in family structure patterns, differences in the roles of men and women, the part of children and childhood life, in various groups that vary, and the relationship between individuals and groups.
Through history, children gain a deep understanding of scientific patterns to seek understanding of the world in which humans live and do things better/efficiently; knowledge of what has been obtained by humans, including the development of science and technology that creates change.
Throughout history, children begin to understand the political climate that develops in local communities to the world community. The important thing at the heart of this problem is understanding democratic values.
Historical thinking skills
Historical thinking skills are abilities that must be developed so that students can distinguish the past, present, and future; view and evaluate evidence; compare and analyze historical stories, illustrations, and records from the past; interpret historical records, and build a historical narrative based on the understanding that is appropriate to the level of development of his thinking.
History can provide opportunities for children to analyze and appreciate human activities and their relationships with others. To create such an atmosphere, children/students must be conditioned to ask and learn (active learning) actively, not only passively absorbing information in facts, names, and year numbers as truth.
There are 5 (five) forms of historical thinking that can develop historical thinking skills, namely:
- Chronological thinking, developing an understanding of historical time (past, present, and future) to identify the temporal sequence in which events take place; measuring calendar time; interpreting and creating timelines; explain patterns of historical continuity and change.
- Historical comprehension, including the ability to listen (listen to) and read historical stories with complete understanding; identify the structural elements of historical narratives (characters, situations, sequence of events, causal factors, and outcomes); and develop the ability to explain past events through their knowledge.
- Historical analysis and interpretation, including the ability to compare various experiences, beliefs, motives, traditions, expectations from people with different backgrounds and various time variations to then analyze how these differences are formed; compare the results of historical writings and then analyze the accuracy of the sources used.
- Historical research capabilities, including the ability to formulate historical questions that arise from the study of historical documents, artifacts, photographs, visits to historical objects; obtain information about the time and place of the historical event where the relic, paper, or writing was made; build historical stories related to the acquisition of such information.
- Historical issues-analysis and decision-making, including the ability to identify problems when faced with historical literature; analyze the existence of various points of view; evaluate the possibility of emerging alternatives related to the problem.
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