Applying Constructivist Theory in Organizing History Teaching Activities to Develop Historical Thinking Competence for High School Students

Abstract

In competency-based education, History teaching is expected to move beyond factual knowledge transmission toward developing students’ historical thinking competence (Ministry of Education and Training, 2018, 2022). This study investigates how constructivist theory can inform the organization of History teaching activities to enhance students’ abilities in reasoning, interpretation, comparison, contextualization, and evidence-based argumentation—key dimensions of historical thinking (Cinnamon et al., 2021; Wiley et al., 2020; Wilke et al., 2022). A quasi-experimental design was conducted with two Grade 11 classes over four weeks. The experimental group engaged in constructivist-oriented strategies, including discovery learning, problem-based learning, historical debate, flipped classroom, and project-based learning, while the control group received traditional instruction (Hämäläinen et al., 2023; Pan et al., 2023). Students’ competence was assessed using a nine indicator rubric aligned with contemporary approaches to measuring causal reasoning and evidence use in History learning (Ningsih & Abidin, 2022; Wilke et al., 2022). The findings show significant improvements in the experimental group, particularly in causal reasoning, interpretation, comparison, and the use of historical evidence. The study provides empirical support for applying constructivist pedagogy in History education and offers practical implications for implementing competency-based curricula (Ministry of Education and Training, 2019, 2020).