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      Qualifying counterfactuals: Students' use of counterfactuals for evaluating historical explanations

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          Abstract

          The study investigates upper secondary school students' use of counterfactual reasoning when engaging in a task concerning historical explanation. The study analyses student answers to a prompt asking them to evaluate the causal importance of a historical actor for a historical event, aiming to characterize the counterfactuals used, as well as applying possible criteria for what can be considered a qualified counterfactual. The criteria for qualification of counterfactuals are based on theoretical proposals about the potential of counterfactuals in relation to historical explanation. The findings indicate that a majority of the students involved use counterfactuals in their reasoning about explanatory importance, most of them employing counterfactual reasoning in relation to the historical actor. The analysis of qualification indicates that student reasoning becomes more qualified when students instead focus on structural factors, include both structures and actors in their counterfactual reasoning, or support their reasoning by making comparisons.

          Author and article information

          Journal
          75011015
          History Education Research Journal
          UCL IOE Press
          1472-9474
          1472-9466
          01 April 2020
          : 17
          : 1
          : 50-67
          Article
          1472-9474(20200401)17:1L.50;1- s5.phd /ioep/herj/2020/00000017/00000001/art00005
          10.18546/HERJ.17.1.05
          8462f8e4-e46d-4577-b084-8bdd9776438c
          Copyright @ 2020
          History
          Categories
          Articles

          Educational research & Statistics,General education,History
          HISTORICAL THINKING,HISTORY EDUCATION,HISTORICAL EXPLANATION,COUNTERFACTUALS

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