Historical thinking skills from the perspective of high school students in Vietnam

Abstract

The transition from treating history as a "secondary" subject centered on rote memorization to the development of historical thinking represents a significant shift in Vietnam's national history curriculum implemented in 2022. This change poses challenges for teachers and students as they adapt to a more analytical and interpretative approach to history education. This study explores the application of Peter Seixas’s historical thinking model integrated with visualization techniques to enhance high school students’ historical thinking skills. A quantitative research design was employed involving Likert-scale surveys and statistical analysis of experimental data collected from 448 students across five high schools in Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital. The findings highlight that using visualization techniques fosters deeper student engagement with historical content allowing them to critically analyze, interpret, and synthesize historical information. Students demonstrated improved abilities to assess historical complexities and apply historical knowledge to real-world contexts, significantly advancing their educational outcomes. This study underscores the importance of equipping students with historical thinking skills to navigate an increasingly complex and interconnected world. The research offers practical insights for teachers, policymakers, and curriculum developers to optimize history teaching practices. This method enhances the broader effort of improving Vietnam's history education system and promoting critical thinking in students by coordinating teaching strategies with present educational objectives.