Using picture books to raise historical consciousness in the adolescent classroom
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Using picture books to raise historical consciousness in the adolescent classroom Helen Penridge 1 Received: 14 March 2020 / Revised: 9 August 2020 / Accepted: 11 August 2020 # Australian Curriculum Studies Association 2020
Abstract Solving community issues effectively and ethically demands sophisticated historical consciousness on the part of decision makers. Developing historical consciousness is therefore a crucial role for history teachers as they nurture emerging adults. Appropriately chosen picture books offer unique opportunities for supporting this mission because of their accessibility, conceptual complexity and ambiguity. Teachers can use theoretical models of historical consciousness to scaffold the development of classroom discussion questions around suitable picture books so that discussions cultivate enhanced consciousness in students. To illustrate this approach, I use Jörn Rüsen’s (2004) four-level taxonomy of historical consciousness to develop a series of discussion questions related to an iconic Australian picture book, The Rabbits (Marsden and Tan, 1998). The questions are designed to provoke creative examinations of a range of Australian contemporary issues including indigeneity, colonisation, modernity, and environmental degradation. They draw authentically on historical knowledge and, taken together, exercise Rüsen’s four levels of historical consciousness. Advantages and risks of using picture books as stimulus resources for raising historical consciousness in the adolescent history classroom are examined. Keywords Picture books . Historical consciousness . Adolescent classroom
The rabbits came many grandparents ago…. Who will save us from the rabbits? (Marsden and Tan 1998) Australia is facing pressing concerns that demand enhanced historical awareness. As I write, the hot dry summer of 2019–2020 has receded behind a new natural disaster, COVID19, but climate change, land use challenges and Indigenous issues remain high on Australia’s public agenda. The unprecedented fires of last summer wrought immense damage: 12.6 million hectares burned, 434 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted, 57% of adult Australians physically affected by smoke and at least one billion vertebrates killed (Werner and Lyons 2020). Meanwhile, Australia remains the only postcolonial first-world nation that does not acknowledge its Indigenous people constitutionally (RMIT ABC Fact Check 2019). Indigenous activist, Thomas Mayor, has * Helen Penridge [email protected] 1
School of Social Sciences, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Queensland, Australia
been crisscrossing the nation, highlighting the connection between Indigenous marginalisation and environmental degradation (Sparrow 2019). When the 2019 Australia Talks National Survey mapped the attitudes of over 50,000 Australians, climate change topped Australia’s worry list: 72% of respondents believed it would affect their lives. A majority of respondents also believed the treatment of Indigenous Australians was a problem for Aust
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