Historical Thinking Skills and Cognitive Levels in Spanish High School History Textbooks

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to check how history textbooks in Spain contribute to the teaching of historical thinking competencies. To reach this goal, there are two specific objectives. The first one is to investigate the existence of historical thinking skills in History textbooks in Spanish Baccalaureate. The second is to establish what level of cognitive difficulty there is in the textbook activities when developing historical thinking competencies. For this purpose, a sample of almost 4000 activities from five Spanish textbooks publishers has been selected. The methodology is quantitative and based on descriptive analysis. The results show that the textbooks include few activities working on historical thinking competencies and with a low-medium cognitive skill level. The most frequent historical competencies are the analysis of sources and the identification of causes and consequences of historical events. The study concludes that Spanish publishers need to increase the presence of activities that promote history learning through thinking competencies.