Unit METHODOLOGY AND TEACHING OF HISTORY

Course
Italian, classical studies and european history
Study-unit Code
A002650
Curriculum
Letteratura e filologia italiana
Teacher
Luca La Rovere
Teachers
  • Luca La Rovere
  • Chiara Coletti (Codocenza)
  • Roberto Cristofoli (Codocenza)
Hours
  • 12 ore - Luca La Rovere
  • 12 ore (Codocenza) - Chiara Coletti
  • 12 ore (Codocenza) - Roberto Cristofoli
CFU
6
Course Regulation
Coorte 2023
Offered
2023/24
Learning activities
Caratterizzante
Area
Discipline storiche, filosofiche, antropologiche e sociologiche
Academic discipline
M-STO/04
Type of study-unit
Opzionale (Optional)
Type of learning activities
Attività formativa monodisciplinare
Language of instruction
Italian
Contents
The course of “Metodologia e Didattica della storia” is subdivided among three Professors, and consists of three parts, each of 12 hours.
The first and longer part of the first part (lectures by Roberto Cristofoli) will deal with important issues and problems in the field both of history teaching, with attention paid to the various innovations introduced, and of methodology of history and historical research.
After that, the course will be devoted a lecture to the conceptual foundations of ancient historiography also observed in their differences with modern ones, and a lecture to cinematography as a teaching resource for Roman history.
The middle module (12 hours by Chiara Coletti) will be introduced by some reflections on the usefulness and limits of periodisation operations. It will then focus on some major 'periodizing' events of the modern age capable of producing relevant social, cultural and religious transformations, whose memory has then nourished the life and identity of those communities over time. Students will be asked to reflect, in a methodological and didactic perspective, on some fundamental historiographical paths of the modern age.

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The part of the course relating to contemporary history (12 hours), held by prof. La Rovere, is divided into two segments: the first aims to provide some basic notions concerning historiographic practice, useful for teaching the discipline: 1) What is history? The aims of historical knowledge; The sources and their interpretation - critical analysis of the sources; subjectivity and interpretation; the periodizations in contemporary history. 2) Profile of the history of historiography, with particular attention to contemporary historiography. 3) From particular to general: national history/local history; Transnational History, Global History, World History. Some issues of contemporary history: history and memory, the public use of history, revisionism and denialisms, Public History. The second part intends to provide the tools to organize teaching activity practically and in an innovative way. In particular, we will focus on the history laboratory as a tool to induce students to "think historically". After having examined its usefulness and function, the planning and construction methods of a history laboratory will be illustrated, also through practical examples. Particular attention will be paid to the use of computer and digital resources for teaching contemporary history.
Reference texts
Students who attend classes are only expected to know the contents of the lectures, and of all texts from ancient authors presented and analysed during the course.
Students who are unable to attend lectures must contact Professor Cristofoli, who will provide them with an alternative learning programme.
In Unistudium Students can find the texts presented within the course.

Module of prof. La Rovere: in addition to the lecture notes, whose attendance is recommended, the reference texts are indicated on the Unistudium page of the course and are the same for attending and non-attending students. The teacher will provide additional teaching material, which can be found on the Unistudium page of the course.

Students with disabilities and / or with DSA are asked to consult the University Services on the page
https://lettere.unipg.it/home/disabilita-e-dsa; Students can also get in touch with the responsible contact person, and agree with the Professor tools and strategies aimed at facilitating the learning path.
Educational objectives
The main knowledge that Students are expected to acquire will be:
- knowledge of the history teaching methodology and of the problems related to both language and content;
- knowledge of the documentary sources for reconstructing the past.
The main skills that will allow Students to apply their acquired knowledge will be:
- Students will be able to evaluate the level of historical knowledge;
- Students will acquire an appropriate methodology to analyze and to interpret sources for reconstructing the past;
- Students will be able to reconstruct and to explain the events of specific stages of the history of a civilization through effective didactic choices.
Let us clarify beforehand that we think that it is impossible to talk of Metodologia e Didattica della storia regardless of the knowledge of history; so the lectures will focus also on events of the history and on aspects of the historiography chosen as illustrative case studies, but whose knowledge in itself constitutes a fully-fledged formative objective.
Prerequisites
In order to fully understand the contents of the course, it is useful (but non indispensable) that Students have attended the undergraduate course in Roman, Modern and Contemporary history.
Teaching methods
The first part of the course (prof. Cristofoli) consists of frontal lectures that will deal with the methods for the study and for the teaching of ancient history as well as some specific events and aspects of the history and civilization of ancient Rome, also for the purpose of their didactic transposition.

The second part of the course (prof. Coletti) includes lectures on the methodology and didactics of modern history, with the use of sources on which small didactic exercises can take place.

The third part of the course (prof. La Rovere) provides lectures on the contents of the course. The teaching will be integrated with the use of slides, videos, websites for teaching contemporary history.
Other information
It is warmly recommended to consult the Unistudium page of the course for lesson times, exam texts, teaching materials, etc.
Learning verification modality
Final oral examination. The examination is aimed at evaluating knowledge in the field of didactics of history at both general and specific level, with their application to the topics examined during the lectures.
The answers to the exam questions will determine an evaluation based on argumentative rigor, property of language, exhaustive exposition of the contents, ability to transpose the contents into effective didactic choices.
Students with disabilities and / or with DSA can benefit, during the exam, from the inclusive technologies, compensatory tools and dispensative measures provided for by the legislation. Technologies, tools and measures must be requested and agreed with the Professor well in advance of the exam. See the web-page:
https://lettere.unipg.it/home/disabilita-e-dsa; Students can also get in touch with the responsible contact person.
Extended program
The course of "Methodology and Didactics of History" is divided between three teachers, with three parts of 12 hours each.
The first and longest part of the course of "Methodology and Didactics of History" (lectures by Roberto Cristofoli) will deal with the characters and problems of both the methodology of history in general and Roman history in particular (historians and the approach to sources over time; localization and periodization; the main driving forces of history; historical revisionism), and the teaching of history (competency based learning and teaching; the learning Unit; the “Indicazioni nazionali degli obiettivi di apprendimento specifici per i Licei”, and the space for ancient history; teaching and learning models, and teaching and learning styles; the evaluation process; Public History; teaching and learning about controversial issues; counterfactual history.
After that, the course will devote: a lecture to the historiographical models that were the basis of the subsequent historiographers of antiquity, and to the articulation of Roman historiography into genres, as well as to the conceptual foundations of ancient historiography also observed in their differences with modern ones; a lecture to the cinematography as a teaching resource for Roman history, able to relate different ages with their respective specificities to be grasped.

The middle module (12 hours curated by Chiara Coletti) will be roughly divided as follows. The first week will focus on some introductory reflections on the usefulness, tools and limits inherent in periodisation operations. Some history textbooks on the modern age will be examined together, focusing on the subject of periodisation. In the second week, we will then focus on some major 'periodizing' events of the modern age capable of producing, through a major change in the political regime, significant social, cultural and religious transformations, the memory of which then nourished the life and identity of those communities over time. In particular, we will analyse the interpretations and readings that the various historiographies have offered, over time, of some revolutionary events of the modern age

The part of the course relating to contemporary history (12 hours), held by prof. La Rovere, is divided into two segments: the first aims to provide some basic notions relating to historiographic practice, useful for teaching the discipline: 1) What is history? The aims of historical knowledge; The sources and their interpretation - critical analysis of the sources; subjectivity and interpretation; the periodizations in contemporary history. 2) Profile of the history of historiography, with particular attention to contemporary historiography. 3) From particular to general: national history/local history; Transnational History, Global History, World History. Some issues of contemporary history: history and memory, the public use of history, revisionism and denialisms, Public History. The second part intends to provide the tools to organize teaching activity practically and in an innovative way. In particular, we will focus on the history laboratory as a tool to induce students to "think historically". After having examined its usefulness and function, the planning and construction methods of a history laboratory will be illustrated, also through practical examples. Particular attention will be paid to the use of computer and digital resources for teaching contemporary history.
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