Transfer of Learning in School History Class to Real-Life Contexts - Focusing on the “Meaning of History” and the “Aims of Learning History” in Middle School History Textbooks -

The theories of Understanding by Design (UbD) and Competency-Based Curriculum, as implemented in the 2015 and 2022 revised curricula, emphasized learning transfer, the ability to effectively use content knolwedge and procedual knoweldge learned in a school subject in other situations including real-life contexts. This article examined whether the knowledge learned in middle school history class, particularly the meaning of history and the aims of learning history, could be effectively used in real-life contexts by analyzing content in the online platforms such as Naver, Google and YouTube.<br/> In middle school history textbooks, since the 2009 curriculum revision, the meaning of history has been told in the dichotomy of history as fact and history as record. This distinction made it challenging to use the knowledge learned in school in real-life contexts. The aims of learning history, as described in these middle school textbooks, have not diverged from historians’ general answers to the question of why we study history.<br/> The meaning of history should be revised to empower students to critically engage with historical content through the application of analytical frameworks in their daily lives. The aims of learning history must be explicitly defined to ensure students comprehend the broader goals and learning outcomes they are expected to attain through their school history education.