HISTORICAL UNDERSTANDING AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN A MULTICULTURAL SETTING

The author of this study examines six students' construction of histor ical knowledge as shaped by school and family. The author explores stu dents' perceptions of the disjunctions and interactions between the tw o sources of historical understandings. Students representing a range of social studies achievement and ethnic backgrounds were selected fro m grade 11 classes in a large, urban, multicultural school. Classroom participant-observations and two in-depth interviews with each student provide the data. The students' patterns of historical understanding are analyzed with particular attention to the following elements: hist orical significance, historical evidence and authority, and historical agency, empathy, and moral judgment. The author suggests that family experiences and other sources of information outside school strongly i nfluence the way in which students understand history. He explores som e of the problems generated when the complexities of historical meanin g making remain unrecognized in school social studies. Finally, the au thor suggests advantages, particularly in the multicultural classroom, of shaping curricular content and classroom activities to enable stud ents to examine and build upon their prior historical knowledge.