Colonial American history: historical awareness, conceptions of history, and materials for teaching

Abstract

This paper presents some results of an exploratory study carried out at the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences of the Autonomous University of Entre Ríos, Paraná. The perspectives that students have about various topics related to History in materials for teaching the discipline and Colonial American History were analyzed. In addition, a comparison was made between the conceptions that the students had before and after the course of the teaching career in History, and in particular for the subject American History II. This includes content from the invasion of the American continent at the end of the 15th century to the independence processes at the beginning of the 19th century. The results of the investigation made it possible to observe the high value that students give to the study of history. In addition, the meta-analysis that they were able to carry out of their training, which includes their time in secondary school, is remarkable.