Reexamining the Development of Historical Consciousness in Children and Adolescents - A Comparative Analysis of Korean, Japanese, and Early German Empirical Studies -

In history education, historical consciousness is recognized as one of its primary aims. However, discussions on the theoretical understanding of historical consciousness and its connection to empirical research remain limited, both in English academia and in Korea. Additionally, while Korea adopted Japan’s psychological theory of historical consciousness and has conducted research on the development of children’s and adolescents’ historical consciousness since the 1960s, there is a significant lack of understanding regarding how these studies relate to the current teleological discussions on historical consciousness in international scholarship. Faced with this issue, the present study aims to re-examine early empirical research on psychological historical consciousness. To achieve this, it conducts a comparative analysis of historical consciousness research methods and findings from Korea, Japan, and Germany, with Germany’s 1930s research being regarded as the starting point of historical consciousness theory. The study seeks to provide insights into how psychological research on historical consciousness has been linked to history education.