Chapter 8: Massialas and Cox: The Reflective Inquiry Model

The nature of social science/history curriculum has been a significant issue from the time that the subject was first included in the high school curriculum as a mandated subject for graduation (approximately 1895). Early on, a split between advocates for traditional history and those for the newer, younger social studies (approximately 1921) appeared to be a simple struggle for space in the curriculum. However, the split is, in actuality, much deeper as the nature of the discipline of history is also a point of contention that must be considered at the outset of the discussion. When history is viewed as one of the humanities, a record of the trials, tribulations and accomplishments of humankind, it generally takes the form of a narrative, fact-based account of what has transpired in the past. That is the approach traditionally taken in the public school curriculum. However, when history is viewed as a social science, then the discipline changes into an exploration and discovery of why events unfolded as they did as human actors made choices among options. In this approach, history could have unfolded in a variety of ways and by implementing the tools of scientific method and discovery, the discipline moves to uncovering these actions and choices in a more analytic fashion. No longer is history “the Truth,” but a story of truths that are relative; choices that were made; values that were upheld or trampled.