Declarative Education And The Nature Of Knowledge

Essay 1

The word history stems from the ancient Greek word for “inquiry.” Indeed, the study of history should be an investigative examination into the past which provides information and insight. Yet beyond information regarding timelines and facts about historical people and events, historical study can provide an avenue of reflective thought that supports the development of critical thinking skills, rational judgment, empathy, and the expansion of our understanding of what it means to be human. As a subject and knowledge domain, history can teach us not only about important past events and the lived experiences of those who came before us, it also can teach us valuable lessons and ways of thinking that are applicable to many aspects of our …show more content…
To Hirst, each knowledge domain constitutes a form of knowledge with a particular way of knowing. Sam Wineburg states in his book, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts, that “Traditional history instruction constitutes a form of information, not a form of knowledge. Students might master an agreed-upon narrative, but they [lack] any way of evaluating it, of deciding whether it or any other narrative, [is] compelling or true.” (41) In this statement, Wineburg calls attention to the difference between “declarative knowledge” and “procedural knowledge.” Declarative knowledge can state facts and figures whereas procedural knowledge relates to understanding how to perform a task; in this case how to research, evaluate, and draw conclusions from historical information. When curriculums focus singularly around traditional history textbooks, the possible breadth of a student’s encounter with history is stifled. The meta-discourse that historians engage in is rarely presented in textbooks and the diverse historical perspectives available for any one era are narrowed down to a single impersonal narrative. Historical conclusions are already drawn for students and, as such, students are not expressly asked to engage in critical analysis and reasoning to understand history for themselves; nor are they asked to evaluate historical sources and perspectives on their own terms. Conversely, when history is presented as a “way of knowing” and disparate historical information and narratives are presented in their fuller, richer complexity, students are encouraged to engage in and develop what scholars consider to be the primary dispositions that support critical thinking. These dispositions