A Study on Selecting and Organizing Syllabus in Key Concept-based Elementary History Curriculum

The syllabus construction of elementary history curriculum has shown to demonstrate a slightly easier and more palatable side of history rather than the more advanced, thorough teachings of historical education. Through doing this the theoretical grounds and effects are vague. A systematic principle for selecting and organizing the syllabus in the elementary history curriculum would be required to provide significant historical knowledge to elementary school students. The purpose of this study is to divide the historical concepts into key concepts and substantive concepts, verify their functions as syllabus factors of the historical teaching, and as a result of this, develop a syllabus for the key concept-based elementary curriculum. To this end, the study has selected key concepts and substantive concepts to be taught to elementary school students. This focuses on Korean historical facts, based on a discussion on the historical concept. For the purpose of this study, the following research was conducted.First, it divided the historical concepts into the substantive concepts and the key concepts in the light of the nature of historical knowledge and explored the concepts’ function in the history curriculum. The substantive concepts are constructed by categorizing and binding historical facts, while the key concepts represent the character of historical facts or the method of historical research. The former becomes the subject matter of history education, while the latter can be used to organize the syllabus of the curriculum, as it helps us understand the character of historical knowledge and think in a historical context. It is possible to systematically understand history and the character of historical facts, and ultimately provide significant historical knowledge to students, by determining a key concept and selecting and organizing the syllabus through this method.Secondly, we need to select the key concepts to be applied to the elementary historical education, by analyzing foreign curriculums and textbooks, which value the concepts in elementary historical education. The key concepts selected include: causation, evidence, empathy, interpretation, similarity and difference, change and continuity, historical significance and ethical dimension. Then, this study examined the properties of the key concepts and arranged them into main ideas.Finally, this study selected the following key and substantive concepts: similarity and difference, a key concept, which constructed substantive concepts such as status system, elementary education and pottery. While change and continuity, a key concept, was constructed ideas such as Buddhist culture, Confucian culture, dwelling life, agricultural activity, tool and female status, respectively. The causation is associated with maintenance of government system, foreign war, international order, division and unification, peasants uprising and popular culture. Additionally, the evidence was associated with primary and secondary sources, relics and artifacts, reliability of sources and intentional and daily sources as substantive concepts. This study suggested customs and practices, social innovation and national/ independence movements as substantive concepts suitable for teaching empathy, state-founding myths, folktales’ and social structures. The concept of historical significance is associated with national identity. As are the concepts of the masses and civic awareness, children’s social position and the ethical decision with Confucian ideology. And lastly, human rights and equality and democracy which are categorized as substantive concepts, to teach the core key concepts.This study verified the potential of the concept-based history curriculum for exploring history. In conclusion, concept-based history curriculum is expected to make a practical contribution to the educational settings beyond just the introduction of simple concepts into elementary history education.