Classroom teaching has changed dramatically over the last 100 years. If you were to ask your grandparents what they remember about learning history in school, there is a good chance they will describe a scene where emphasis was placed on memorising facts, figures and dates, and not the student-centred, collaborative approaches, such as inquiry or source analysis, that are common in twenty-first-century classrooms. It would seem we have come a long way in our thinking about what makes for good teaching and learning in history, but why is that? Using educational psychology as a lens, this chapter shows how changing ideas about learning led to changing practices in history teaching, and examines how constructivism, social constructivism, developmental models and even neuroscience have influenced the teaching of history. It will be shown that we are best served by not relying overly on one approach alone, but that we should be utilising the best of all that came before, diversifying our teaching to meet diverse student needs.

The key aim of this chapter is to develop teachers’ appreciation that there is a considerable body of research into historical knowledge, historical thinking and historical skills. This body of research underpins history in the Australian Curriculum. The practical application of this research happens in the classroom, where teachers work with students to apply historical concepts and skills to the content and thus facilitate students’ learning. Building on Chapter 1, this chapter explains how historical knowledge is constructed and what it means to ‘think historically’. This chapter is far more theoretical than chapters that follow because it examines the research behind seven historical concepts and the five skills involved in historical inquiry mandated by the Australian Curriculum. It gives theory behind the practice. The use of historical concepts and skills applies to all years of schooling, from Foundation to Year 10 and in Senior secondary curriculum, although their application becomes more complex in the senior years.This chapter aims to equip teachers to be able to empower students to think historically themselves, rather than disseminating beliefs through instructive memory lessons. The end game for teachers is to foster in their students a historical reflective self, who will be able to reflect upon their personal historical identity.