Educational Psychology—Limitations and Possibilities

930 The Praeger Handbook of Education and Psychology
to break away from a worldview that sees history or education as neat, linear processes, for
instance in the case where a solution to a problem is not possible. But within the context of many
disciplines, and in particular history education, such a focus can seem nonsensical, especially to
students. Why should they attempt to solve problems that arose in the distant past, and for which
solutions have likely already been found? The resulting crisis in motivation provides only one
impediment to deep learning; other impediments may include the sometimes-forced connections
imposed between the past and the present, the low-level thinking required to solve the problem,
or simply the top–down hierarchy of dealing with problems as defined by others. For teachers,
the act of problem solving must begin with an acceptance of the way the world is, not as it could
be. This is a limiting view which renders the teacher blind to conditions in the classroom and the
school that may serve to impede student success; it is antithetical to the goals of emancipation
and social justice that are the cornerstone of postformal education.
The postformal counterpart of problem solving is problem detection (Kincheloe, 2001). This
process begins not with a set of predetermined problems, but with observation. For example,
teachers examine their curricula, and students examine their textbooks. Both may notice that
American history is viewed as a story of progress, and that America is identified, in the words of
the national anthem, as “the land of the free.” This observation leads to a definition of freedom,
and an examination of the concept in the context of American history. The problem is detected:
how is it possible to reconcile that identity with the institution of slavery, with the fight for civil
and women’s rights, with the country’s labor history, treatment of ethnic minorities, immigration
policies, and so on. The inevitable next step is an examination of freedom as it relates to current
events, as students discover where the word is used in political and social discourse, how varying
definitions of freedom affect public policy, and what are the consequences in America and
throughout the world. This hermeneutic process allows them to interpret this and subsequent
situations. When students become experts at problem detection, they develop simultaneously an
expertise in historical thinking. The potential for creative investigation and deep understanding
is huge, yielding results immeasurable in a standardized test.
CONCLUSION
History education has been surrounded by controversy since its inception. There never was
a golden age. The discipline has always been lacking in someone’s estimation: Students don’t
know enough, they know too much about this and too little about that, they don’t know who,
they don’t know where, when, how, or why. Sometimes the criticism is motivated by a sense of
injustice; sometimes it arises in response to a perceived threat to traditionally dominant interests.
The only constant is its persistence. Surely the twenty-first century is the time, after so much has
been said by so many, to create a new paradigm of history education that is inclusive, equitable,
and socially just. Surely now is the time to turn to a rigorous pedagogy that stimulates deep
involvement both cognitively and affectively. Acceptance of this new paradigm is not a matter of
throwing the baby out with the bathwater; instead it invites a closer look at the baby, the bathwater,
the tub, the soap—asking questions, seeing relationships, developing understanding. Educators
thus move beyond the model of their own educational backgrounds and become pioneers of the
new millennium, forging into the truly undiscovered territory of postformalism. By taking this
approach, concentrating heavily on historiography to unearth tacit assumptions of the present
and the past, educators and students can abandon memorization of the mere facts inherent in
traditional education, to learn the processes and patterns of the dance of human history. Thus they
come to understand in a meaningful way their own position in the web of reality. They develop
the ability to detect problems, to apply hermeneutics to their experience, and to deconstruct a