Abstract
This paper examines the foundations of modern history pedagogy through the lens of John Dewey’s inquiry process, with particular attention paid to the transatlantic exchange of ideas between Britain and the United States and their subsequent influence on the wider anglophonic world. Despite the enormous intellectual influence of Dewey during the first half of the twentieth century, the study of history was in danger around the world by the late 1960s. His innovative contributions to learning found their way into the new history pedagogy of the 1970s and 1980s via Brunerian learning theory, the US Amherst Project, and the British Schools History Project.
This article foregrounds the pivotal role that Deweyan approaches centered on inquiry, experience, and democratic purpose have played in shaping later global pedagogies for the teaching of history. In doing so, we trace the role of Deweyan ideas in the development of modern history pedagogy from the emergence of mass schooling during the late nineteenth century through to 1960. This article illuminates a pedagogical lineage that connects Deweyan thought to postwar educational innovations such as the Amherst Project and the British Schools Council History Project. It connects the work of John Dewey to British philosopher Paul Hirst and British history educators such as Mary Price, both of whom pioneered the move away from rote learning and toward historical inquiry, a shift which has occurred not only in Britain and the US, but in Australia, Canada, and around the globe.
Project Muse URL
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/60/article/995381
Recommended Citation
Wall, Vince; Bedford, Alison; and Redmond, Petrea
(2025)
"Dewey and the Historical Inquiry Process: Foundations of Modern History Pedagogy,"
Education and Culture: Vol. 41
:
Iss.
2,
Article 3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7771/1559-1786.1948
