Abstract
We begin with three propositions: Most high school students do not like history, fail to see its connection to their own lives, and don’t connect the past and the present. Most students accept the content of their textbooks and what their teachers tell them at face value and tend to express little useful skepticism towards them. History teachers could breathe new life into their history lessons if they were able to emphasize the relevance of the subject matter to students’ actual lives and build a didactic bridge between the curriculum and historians’ ways of thinking.
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Textbooks Analyzed
Avieli-Tabibian, K. (2009). Massaot bazman: Bonim medina bamizrach hatichon [Journeys in time: Building a state in the Middle East]. Tel-Aviv, Israel: Center for Educational Technology.
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Bar-Navi, E., & Naveh, E. (1999). Zmanim moderniim [Modern times]. Tel Aviv, Israel: Sifrei Tel Aviv.
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Shachar, D. (1998). Am veolam [People and world]. Rehovot, Israel: Idan.
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Ya’akobi, D. (1999). Olam shell tmuroth [A world of changes]. Jerusalem, Israel: Curriculum Department, Ministry and Education and Culture.
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Yogev, E. (2014). Studying the Past in the Present Tense. In: Williams, J.H. (eds) (Re)Constructing Memory. SensePublishers, Rotterdam. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-656-1_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-656-1_9
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