Pedagogy

Any art historian can point to paintings where children are painted as miniature adults with adult proportions as in 13th century representations of the Madonna and child.

Children of the period , once they had passed infancy would have been treated as mini adults, dressed in adult clothing, and from the age of about 7 or 8 , been expected to learn a trade and to work. They would also have been punished for their misdeeds in the same way as an adult on the same charge. From 1597 child criminals were being sent to the colonies as punishment as described on the adoption.com webpage Transportees. This was an alternative to being hung.

Yet it is obvious to even a casual observer that children do develop gradually  physically, psychologically and mentally. They are small and aware of the world in only a limited measure. At first they possess  little or no understanding of other people as being separate from themselves and so cannot  understand social relationships and have no sense of  morality. The idea of child development is a way of giving order and meaning to observed chronological changes in childrens development. It is this gradual development which then provides the reasoning behind the many practices and policies which are related directly to children and the ways in which they differ from adults. Many educational programs are based upon the belief that children should be taught at the  level of their developmentally capabilities. Child protection policies, ages of consent, legal drinking ages and so on are all examples of things based upon the rationale of gradual development. They presume that development is teleological i.e. it has a beginning, a direction and an end as described by Emily Cahan( 1980).

19th Century
It was really only in the 19th century that the idea of human development began to be widely considered in a serious way. Robert Chambers published in 1844 his influential work , Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation He believed that  apart from gravity there was only  great law the law of development. He related this to all kinds of things such as planetary motion (Chapter 1), but his ideas were basically evolutionary. In a chapter entitled the Origin of the Animated Tribes he says the operation of the laws may be modified by conditions. and we cannot but agree with him when cases of arrested development are considered. Later in the same work he states that development is dependent upon physical circumstances.

20th Century
The name that stands out in 20th century ideas about child development is that of Jean Piaget (1896-1980) who, as early as 1919, as described by Booree in 1999, was beginning to ask questions about how children reasoned. It was he who came up with terms such as schema and assimilation as used in works such as his1971 work Biology and Knowledge An Essay on the Relations Between Organic Regulations and Cognitive Processes. The first term he used to describe how an infant does something, the second how he then is able to uses this process in a slightly different way. He saw children as going through various stages as they developed intellectually e.g. the sensorimotor stag e which is followed by the preoperational stage, a period when for instance they can engage in creative play. This would normally be followed by a stage entitled concrete operations. This means using logic to solve problems. Finally comes the formal operations stage when a child is able to cope with abstract ideas. Much of his work was based upon observation mainly of his own and other middle class children, often today considered to be an unrepresentative sample. Also he fixes firm ages to stages whereas all children do not necessarily develop at the same rate even within one family and there are those who have difficulty throughout their lives with formal operations. Mike Baker wrote in 2009 about  how genetic differences mean that some have greater abilities than other naturally.

Lawrence Kohlberg was able to come up with a theory of moral development as in 1976 Moral stages and moralization The cognitive-developmental approach which extended Piagets ideas, as described by Crain in 1985. Both men have received criticism because they tended to universalize principles across all peoples of the world. It should be pointed out that both agree development progresses and later is more complicated and better than early. John Dewey (1859-1952) worked during approximately the same time period as Piaget. He believed that development could be rather more variable than the flower opening so often used as analogy at the time.  He preferred to use the imagery of a child with a seed within him, but it could develop into a cactus or an oak tree depending upon circumstances.

In more recent times William Kessen (1990) has discussed the value laden idea of development. By which he means that the end of development as man perceives it  serves to reflect those things and ideas which people value and toward which childrens development is therefore guided.

There have obviously been many changes in ideas over the years and presumably this will continue to happen and will be reflected in such things as legislation and the ways in which children are both cared for and expected to behave. Modern biological science and psychology are opening up new knowledge. More is known about such things as genetics, infants can be observed from the time of conception, but children will continue to develop and to explore their world, from putting that fist in the mouth for the first time to passing their driving test and making adult judgments. Whether or not these fit into the generally accepted will depend upon many factors, as it has always done.

Family Observation
The subject of the observation is a young family.  The mother is of GermanIrish descent and is 31 years old.  The father is from GermanItalian descent and is 30 years old.  Their daughter is 18 months old.  The father is a full time contractor.  He has a masters degree in mechanical engineering and is a part time graduate student working on a masters degree in engineering management.  The mother stopped working full time nine months after the baby was born.  She is currently working part-time as a barista in a coffee shop and has just started working on her masters degree in counseling full time.  The daughter does not attend any type of structured program since being withdrawn from full time daycare at 9 months.  She does however attend a play group for toddlers each Friday for two hours.  The German heritage is very important to the family.  The daughter is allowed only two hours of video each day.  One hour of video is German cartoons and the other hour is English cartoons.  The family does not have cable.

The structure and health of this family appears to be stable.  The daughter was born prematurely.  The mother has a few health problems due to the traumatic birth, but otherwise the family does not experience health problems aside from the common cold and flu symptoms at times.  The mother wakes with the daughter and prepares meals.  The father is normally out of the house for most of the day and sometimes the evening depending on his school schedule.  The child is exposed to many books and is often given the choice of books.  For the past two weeks she has been choosing Once Upon a Potty most often.  According to the mother this choice is reasonable because she has recently received a potty as a gift and began using this last week.  The mother believes that the daughter can relate the experiences of the main character Prudence to her own potty training experiences and is therefore choosing this book.  The child normally has three story times a day.  The relationship between the mother and father is slightly strained.  The recession has made it difficult for the father to find employment in his field and this causes some financial and emotional grief in the household.  The mothers choice to quit her fulltime job and start a lesser paying part-time job while furthering her education has not been taken well in the household.  Most often the parents act happy for the daughters sake, but at this time there is little interaction between them if it is not concerning their daughter.

The parents are well aware that children need structure within their homes and daily and weekly routines.  The daughter has a schedule.  She wakes up at approximately 7 am each day.  She has a bottle with milk and spends some time cuddling with her parents.  After this she plays in her toy area until about 9 am.  At this time the child has breakfast.  She has two scheduled naps during the day.  The other time is dedicated to free play and also video language emersion.  The three of them eat dinner together as a family each night that the parents are not attending class.  The child is given a bath before her bedtime of 930.  The family attends a local Catholic church as part of their weekly routine with the daughter.

During the home assessment it is clear that the family is concerned about safety.  There are several smoke detectors throughout the home.  There are child protective covers on all outlets.  There is also a gate to block the child from exiting the main living area.  The parents keep the bathroom door closed at all times as a precaution because the daughter is fascinated by both the bath tub and the toilet and they are both potential dangers for the young child.

Childs Observation
This subject of this observation is an 18 month old healthy female.  The subject is capable of both walking and running with great stability.  The subject is curious and touches everything.  The subject is acutely aware of what is important in the household.  She turns the computers, television and dishwasher on and off.  It is noted that she is observing the caretakers in the household.  The subject is skilled at opening and closing doors.  She precariously tries to place shapes and numbers into a puzzle box.  She is frustrated if she can not succeed.  If this occurs she throws the object and screams.  The subject is verbal.  She responds to conversation directed at her with a smile and ongoing babble.  She also entices you to play games such as peek-a-boo and knock-knock.  She enjoys touching the adult caregivers face.  She recognizes her image in the mirror.  She pronounces her dogs name as she follows him.  She enjoys dumping his food and water on the ground if she can access it.  The subject is also aware of what is important to her in the home.  She knows where her snacks are kept and points and grunts if they are wanted.

She cries when tired.
In utilizing Jean Piagets Sensorimotor Stage of CognitiveDevelopment to evaluate this child it is notable that this child is learning through her senses and motor movement.   It is clear that this child has successfully worked through the Coordination of Reactions (8-12 months) substage.  She clearly has intentions such as repeatedly dumping the dogs food and water.  She understands that if she picks up the dish the contents fall on the floor.  If this dish happens to contain the dogs food the child will place the food back in the dish one piece at a time.  The child is also imitating the parental behaviors.  She turns on the television, computer and dishwasher.  She has learned to do this simply by observing her parents.  She is intentionally trying to elicit attention by intimating games such as peek-a-boo.  She imitates behaviors that were taught to her as well, including kissing baby dolls and blowing kisses as a way to say goodbye.  The child also waves when one enters or leaves a room. This child is in the Tertiary Circular Reactions substage which occurs between 12-18 months. In this stage the child will start to exhibit new behaviors to try to get the attention of adults.  This is shown to be the case with this child as she has begun to hit, throw tantrums, kick her feet if picked up when she is doing something, and to turn on reachable appliances to get the attention of her adult caregivers.

This child is also exhibiting some behaviors of the Mental Representation (1824 Months) stage.  In this stage children begin to imitate behaviors that were learned days or hours before.  This is commonly referred to as deferred imitation.  This child picks up telephones and cell phones and holds them to her ear in attempts to have conversations.  This child mimics behavior with objects that are similar in size and shape to the telephone including shampoo bottles and miscellaneous toys.  The child is also evidence of object permanence as she is aware that the parents cell phone is still available when it is removed from her and put away in the mothers closed purse.  The child goes to the purse and cries for the cell phone.

Creative play is something that the child is engaging in.  Piaget also believed that childs play is a major tool for facilitating childrens mental development (Hughes, 1999).  This child is showing signs of adapting to her environment through the everyday activities that she finds amusing.  When she plays with an empty spoon she is actually practicing hand eye coordination according to Piagets theory.  The child is also learning socially acceptable behavior such as eating with a spoon.  By playing with the puzzle box the child is experimenting with trial and error techniques.  She tries to put the puzzle pieces to the appropriate side, matching them with color and shape.  It appears that there are some pieces that she is more aware of including an orange letter C.  When she has this piece the child immediately manipulates the box to the correct side, matching the color and shape.  This situation is showing that the child has a goal-directed behavior.

I feel that although the child was premature she appears to be on schedule developmentally.  She did accomplish some behaviors such as crawling (achieved at 10 months) and walking (achieved at 15 months) relatively later than some other children.  It initially appeared that her motor skills may be developing a bit slower than other children in her age group, but it now seems that she is catching up to her peers and achieving similar experiences.  I appreciate Piagets developmental theory and can see why this is integrated into the education system.  This theory is a great insight into explanation behind toddler behavior.  Seeing the child as a little scientist is an eye opener as everything she does at this point is to explore and understand her tiny world.

Parents Observation
The parents of this observation are fairly well adjusted.  The father is almost completed his second masters degree, although the recession has left it difficult for him to find a job in his field.  This does leave the subject rather sullen and depressed and he does show signs that he feels inadequate because he can not provide for his family in the way that he expected.  The father is self-described as stubborn and has difficulty taking accepting the viewpoints of others.  According to Piagets theory the father may not have fully completed the pre-operational stage of development emotionally.  Although it is clear that the father is competent and shows signs of successfully going through the Formal Operational stage, in terms of his academic achievement.

The mother in this observation is self-described as easy going.  Most of her professional and academic relationships would agree, although these relationships may be superficial.  In addition the mother shows signs of high anxiety and displeasure with her marriage partner.  The mother has severe trust issues. According to Erik Erikson the mother has not successfully completed the Trust vs. Mistrust stage of development.

Both parents in this observation should seek counseling to resolve their ongoing issues so they do not interfere with their daughters development in the future.

Family Centered Nursing
The family is kind and nurturing to the daughter and she comes first in the relationship.  However it is clear after several interactions with the family that parents do not have a nurturing relationship with one another.   The subjects are clearly aware of their marital conflict, but have not yet taken the steps necessary to resolve or minimize the conflict between them.  It is necessity at this point. The subjects did reveal a concern that their current health insurance does not cover mental health services. Given the families concern about finances and their status as graduate students it is recommended that they receive reduced fee counseling at one of their Universities.  The counseling center at the University offers fees are based on income and the range normally begins at 10 per session.  Given the families involvement in the Catholic Church and mention of their ongoing relationship with their pastor it is recommended that the family discuss some of their marriage issues with him.

Holding and Touching
Holding the infants close to the body of the mother or caregiver is desirable, often up
to 8 hours a day. Holding and touching gives the infants a sense of  security. The
infants who are placed in cradles or high chairs feel deprived and will lack the
emotional bond.

Sleeping arrangements
Mother and infant should sleep together .This helps in better communication between
the mother and the infant. This creates a healthy rhythm of emotional bond between
the mother and the infant. Infants should be allowed long hours of sleep during day
and the sleep pattern gradually changes as the infant grows to lesser number of hours
of sleep.

Feeding Infants
Breast feeding infants as many times as 10 to 15 times, with an average of one and a
half  hours intervals between the feedings in 24 hours, during the first three months of
infancy. In case the mother has difficulty in having sufficient milk for the infant, a
nurse  may be allowed to feed the infant. Alternative food supplements suitable to the
region in which the infant is brought up, may be given in cases where the mother has
no possibilities of feeding the infant.

Response to crying
When an infant between 3 months and 10 months cries, the mother or care should
respond by touching and soothing the infant , at the same time verbally
communicating and looking at the infant with love. Carrying the infant , rocking  or
voice stimulation combined together or each one performed separately will reduce the
bouts of the infants crying. Responding within a few seconds helps reduce the
duration of crying.

Holding and touching are the  emotional bonding between the mother  and child. An
infant is not a doll to be left all alone in a cradle or a high chair. Infancy is the critical
stage that serves as a foundation to the physical and psychological developments  of
the future child.

Sleeping arrangements and Breast feeding during infancy helps the mother
develop the emotional communication with infant during its feeding. Sleeping close to
the mother provides the maternal touch to the growth of the child. The number of
hours an infant sleeps is the determining factor in the growth of the child. The SID
syndrome shows that,  parents discouraging the day time sleep of an infant should
think twice before resorting to making  changes in the sleep arrangements for an
infant. The natural sleep patterns of an infant are designed to stimulate a healthy
growth rate.

The mothers or care givers response time to a crying infant plays a vital role
in the infants personality development. When there is a reasonably quick soothing
response from the mother, it is reassuring to the infant . If the mother tries to delay the
response, a sense of insecurity and deprivation may creep into the infants mind,
which grows with time and may make  the child feel no one cares for me attitude
thus reducing the confidence levels. I care for you attitude is the best way  to follow
in every step towards the care of an infant, especially by the mother  or caretaker in
the absence of the mother.

One of the most important facets of human life is the childhood stage wherein a child has to be protected and nurtured in the best way the parents can.  Promoting development of children involves educating them and providing them the best environment that is suitable for acquiring new forms of learning. This research aims to determine whether the voucher scheme in Hong Kong would promote professional development and how teachers will react on this change. Ever since the use of voucher system in promoting professional development, the pre-school have already shown their objection. A voucher requires the teachers to spend more time revising their teaching techniques and methodologies and also, they have to work longer period with their co-teachers.

In Hong Kong, voucher scheme requires teachers to have a Certificate of Education (C.E.) qualification before the end of 2012. A qualitative study was conducted to determine whether Hong Kong pre-school education voucher has an effect to teachers professional development. An in-depth interview with the participants was conducted to gather their views on the impact of the voucher scheme to educators and measure their readiness in accepting new strategies in professional development. The results show that teachers perception of the voucher programs is determined by their view of associated benefits. This implies that every school has to play a role in defining the perception that their teachers have of voucher schemes benefits and how this may affect their overall view of the program.  

This article focuses on the relation of cognitive and language development with bilingual experiences of young children while comparing it with the results of monolingual children. In specific, the researchers selected various children from kindergarten group, divided them in categories of monolinguals, bilinguals, and adopted bilingual immigrants. The research identified no significant difference in the results of different categories in terms of verbal ability however, bilingual children showed noteworthy findings in terms of their learning capabilities, as compared with monolingual classmates. In brief, the researchers concluded that although bilingual experience does not make any radical difference in terms of verbal scores, however, bilingual children enjoy significant results in impulse-control related tasks.

Authors of the abovementioned article are renowned names in the field of psychology and learning, and they have been carrying out enormous efforts to understand different aspects of child development. In this regard, this article is one of the efforts of these authors that include detailed and critical analysis of bilingual experience in young children while assessing their learning controls, as compared with monolingual children. This article is an efficient piece of work for educators and teachers, especially associated with language and cognitive development of young children. One of the major attributes of this article is integration of bilingual-related frameworks with cultural perspectives that will be very efficient in understanding the role of bilingual education in the process of language development. A significant factor of selecting this article is its utilization as academic evidence in the child education courses that indicates integrity and validity of the authors comprehensive perspectives.

From the time children are born until adulthood they require to be taken care of since they cannot be able to attend to their own needs. Child care therefore may be regarded as any concern given to children either in form of physical support, material support mostly in form of money, social support and any other responsibility that comes up. Since children are regarded to be gifts from a supernatural being, then every member of the family, not to mention every member of the community, is supposed to take good care of the children. This is important so as to make sure that children grow up without any interference to become healthy and responsible members of the community.

Children are born and raised in a family set up whether with two parents or a single parent. A child is usually an extra member of any family and therefore comes with extra responsibilities. Biblically, both parents are supposed to take care of their child to ensure that the child grows up in the right way and having the right values (Lequang, 2009) .The extra responsibilities have some effects on the family set up. The major effect is the financial strain that comes with child care. Children also require extra attention and this effects how the family members relate to one another, especially concerning the relationship between husband and wife. This paper will therefore seek to explain how the financial strain that comes with child care affects the family as a unit and also how the extra care and attention affect the relationship of the family members.

Effects of Child Care on Family Unit

Child care is an expensive venture. Russell, (2007) states that child care costs can be about 100 dollars a week or even more in the USA. This is only for one child, meaning that with more than one child it can be really expensive. The expenses are more because children are delicate, especially the young infants, and require quality care. Moreover, they are more susceptible to diseases that adults and this adds an extra medical cost. Russell further describes child care as a full time job (2007). This is because a child requires attention twenty four hours a day. Due to this reason, some mothers quit their job to stay at home and take care of their children instead of employing a care taker or taking their children to a daycare center which is equally expensive. Although it is a bit cheaper for mothers to bring up the children themselves, quitting their job increases the dependency ratio in the family. Consequently, the family is most likely to undergo a financial strain.

Parents have a divine duty of providing education to their children. Learning starts after the child is born. Lequang (2009) says that biblically parents have got the first role of training their children not only on sacred matters but also on other society values. At about three years children are taken to schools so that they can start formal learning. Education is very expensive, especially nowadays. Since education requires more money, it stresses the family financially a great deal. This is even worse when the family is a single parenthood family. Single parents suffer a financial stain more and this makes them suffer more even emotionally (Breinne, 2008). This is the sole reason why in the USA there are programs that help the single mothers by giving grants and assisting them generally as they cannot be compared to the women who have husbands (West, 2009).

In every family, financial problems cause a lot of many other problems. In many cases, it may result to misunderstandings between the family members. This is more common to families who do not plan their finances properly. Since child care results to higher bills, improper planning may force the family to remain in debts. However, other family members may not take this kindly and blame may be laid on the head of the family. This usually results to poor relationships and in extreme cases it may lead to family breakups (Maria, 2010). Her further studies reveal that money related arguments are the main causes of divorce.

Studies have indicated that marriages start experiencing problems when children are introduced in to the family set up. Biblically, marriage is supposed to be a sacred union and children are supposed to be the blessings of this union (Mauro, 2010). The fact that children bring in extra responsibilities to the family may interfere with the relationship between husband and wife. As Mauro (2010) puts it, the mother who is usually the nurturer spends more time with the child while the father who is usually the provider spends more time earning money. Eventually, this reduces the quality time they spend together which may be the beginning of misunderstandings.

In addition to child care responsibilities, the mother usually has other responsibilities. Her husband and other members of the family also require her attention. Moreover, being busy the whole day and also spending some sleepless nights makes her exhausted and she may be tempted to leave other responsibilities (Russell, 2007). In addition to a misunderstanding between the husband and wife, it may also cause problems with other family members. Furthermore, when the husband wife relationship is affected, the whole family may be distablelized as well.

Child care affects child development directly. Studies have revealed that proper nourishment to the baby does not only contribute to the physical health but also to the brain development (Wilindale, 2008). The care given to children from the first day they are born dictates the kind of people they grow up to become. This is more so because learning starts at an early age. Windale (2007) says that children borrow a lot of values from the caregivers or their parents. In addition to that, taking them to school makes them build confidence as they relate with other people apart from their family members. Lequang (2007) also says that for children to grow up properly and have acceptable biblical values, parents should shoulder the responsibility of training them very early in life even before they are taken to school.

The greatest advantage with child care is that parents have a chance to mould up a responsible person. It also gives parent joy to see their children developing properly. However, this is also an experience that causes the family a lot of financial strain among others (Brenie, 2008.) It also leads to a reduction of labor force and income in the family because one parent may be forced to quit employment so as to take good care of the children.

According to Tiwari (2009), learning takes place during the first eight years of life. He continuously says that education that is offered during this time is very important, especially in brain development. Proper education at this time is usually achieved through play and therefore it is very important to incorporate play in all forms of learning either at school or even at home set up. It is therefore important for the caregivers as well as the early childhood educators to have the knowledge of child development to be able to educate the children properly.

The main focus of early childhood education should be to help them understand their environment as well as the world around them. Tawiri (2009) says that this period of life is when the child develops self identity. To understand oneself, one has to understand the world around. Lequang further notes that even biblically it is at this time that children are supposed to be taught all about God and also the word of God (2007). Teaching them this early means that as they grow up they will have these values because the habit that is formed at an early life is not easily changeable later.

Early education programs are very important, bearing in mind that they have a vital role to play in child development. They should not only be incorporated at the learning institutions but also in the home setup. The fact that they are play oriented makes them easy to start and also to run. Failure to incorporate play in the early education programs may make them to be meaningless altogether as they cannot achieve their objectives.

It is very important for the young children to acquire social skills. During play, as they learn other things, they should also learn how to interact with other children, developing their interpersonal skills. Moreover, play helps children grow emotionally as well as learn good ethics (Tiwari, 2009). However, it is important to have a teacher guided play as well as their own play. Early childhood education programs are learning foundation of each and every child and the grown-ups are a reflection of the early education program they passed through during the formative years. Every child can therefore grow up to be a responsible and productive adult if only proper child care is accorded to them and also if they are given a chance to go through an effective early childhood education program.

This study examines the relationship between level of sports involvement and academic achievement of ninth grade students in five local high schools using a correlational design.

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Sports have been an enduring facet of American life. It is woven into the fabric of the social world of Americans, each community have little leagues, sports and physical education is a basic component of educational curriculums, competitions for various sports abound from the community to the national level and sports celebrities are revered much like actors and actresses. Moreover, each person at some point in their life has aspired to become an athlete, and for some this have propelled them to success and a college degree.

Sports do not only promote values and strengthen character and improve physical fitness and endurance but also improve social standing and popularity. Children who play sports are more sociable, more confident and have higher self-esteem. However, it is a reality that sports come into conflict with the academic performance of students. Often, the time spent on practice and competition is taken from the time supposedly spent for academics. Schools however promote sports involvement as part of its extracurricular offerings. But to what extent is sports involvement detrimental or beneficial to the academic performance of students remains a debated issue.

The link between sports involvement and academic achievement remain to be contradictory and inconclusive. Some researches had found that at best, there is only a weak association between sports involvement and academic achievement, which means that sports, does not improve academic achievement. However, previous research found that sports involvement do not have detrimental effects on academic achievement. On the other hand, sports involvement had been found to contribute to better concentration, decision-making (Brisswalter, Collardeau  Ren, 2002), attachment to school and friends, and goal achievement.

The role of sports in the educational system is important from the viewpoint of school administrators as most sports generate additional funding from the local government and from endorsements. It also increases the support of parents and the local community especially if the sports teams are winning in national competitions. For the student athletes, sports involvement tend to open opportunities for them especially after high school, since colleges award athletic scholarships and ensure a college education. Also, sports enhance their social standing in school make them popular and attractive to others. Sports also build relationships, team work and friendships that seem to endure even after high school. Parents view sports as an avenue for their children to succeed and pursue their interests however, too much parental involvement can translate to the pressure to achieve which adds stress to the already stressed student athlete.

Clearly, sports is a big issue in schools and in the lives of students, and since students have to deal with sports and their academics, the relationship of sports involvement to academic achievement is an important issue to discuss and investigate. There had been a number of researches on sports and physical education and its relationship to academic achievement and grades, but the results remain to be inconsistent. Some say sports is linked to increase in achievement test scores and GPA, some say it is not, while others say that greater involvement is needed. Previous research also examined the said relationship with a limited methodology, like using scores on achievement tests, GPAs or subject grades only, while participation was measured in terms of frequency and amount of time spent. The limitation of such methods is that personal characteristics had not been controlled for, like intelligence, academic standing, sports performance and personality type.

The present study will examine the relationship of sports involvement to academic achievement in a more refined method. The athletes academic grades at the end of the ninth grade will be gathered and correlated to their level of sports involvement. In order to determine which level of sports involvement will significantly be related to academic achievement as previous studies indicate, sports involvement will be categorized into major sports participation, minor sports participation, and none participation in any sports.  Major sports participation will be defined as athletes who compete and are part of the major sports teams (football, basketball and baseball for boys soccer, volleyball and softball for girls), minor sports participation will be defined as athletes who compete and are part of sports teams not in the major sports category like tennis, swimming, archery, track and field etc. None participation is defined as students who have not been involved in any kind of sport during the 9th grade. Academic achievement will be defined as the accumulative GPA of the identified student participants at the end of the 9th grade.

The present study hopes to further establish the relationship of sports involvement to academic achievement and will be able to contribute to the building of knowledge and to help schools develop better sports programs and academic support for student athletes. The rest of the chapter will present the key literature on sports involvement, physical education, physical activity and extracurricular activities on academic achievement. The objective is to present the gap in literature and the background of this study, also, the research problem, purpose of the study, significance of the study, and overview of the research methods for the present study.

Background of the Problem

This discussion will focus on previous research on sports involvement and participation in other physical activities and academic performance and other variables to provide a framework of which the present study will be conducted. The previous literature was searched using databases such as PubMed and ProQuest with keywords such as sports, academic achievement and sports involvement, high school and adolescents.

Sports clubs and teams are part of the physical education curriculum of schools and its impact on educational outcomes had been the focus of research in terms of the time spent in physical education classes when it shortens the time spent on academic subjects. The results have found that there are no detrimental effects to academic performance even with the decrease in subject duration. Trudeau and Shephard, (2008) did a review of previous studies on the relationship of physical education, school physical activity, school sports and academic performance. The researchers found that among the quasi-experimental studies increasing the time for free school physical activity in elementary school was not detrimental to the learning of other subjects. On the other hand, it was found that increasing the time spent for physical education showed significant increase in GPA. Cross-sectional studies reported that free physical activity was associated with an increase in academic achievement while physical education did not. Similarly, Lipscomb (2007) explored the impact of involvement in school-sponsored clubs and sports to student learning. The researcher found that participation in sports increased math and science test scores by 2 percent, while club participation increased math test scores by 1 percent and involvement in the two activities was associated with an increase in college degree expectations by 5 percent. Moreover, Stephens and Schaben (2002) compared the academic achievement (GPA) of 8th grade student athletes and non-athletes, the findings indicated that the higher the sports participation, the better the GPA, thus, athletes had higher GPA compared to non-athletes. This implies that sports involvement have the possibility of positively influencing academic achievement.
Sports not only influence academic achievement but a number of developmental outcomes too. Fredericks and Eccles (2006) examined the relationship of participation in high school extracurricular activities and developmental outcomes of 11th grade African American and European American youths. The researchers found that participation in school clubs and organized sports was associated with positive academic and psychological adjustment. A correlational study tested the relationship of athletic participation of inner-city high school students in New York to academic and psychological factors (Fisher, Juszczak  Friedman, 1996). The results reported that the surveyed students are involved in sports, have unrealistic expectations about their sports performance and future, have used steroids and other enhancements to increase their sports performance. On the other hand, sports involvement was not associated with an increase in academic GPA, improvement in self-esteem and occurrence of depression.

The involvement of students in extracurricular activities and sports has established positive outcomes for students socialization and character. Linver, Roth and Brooks-Gunn (2009) examined the involvement of adolescents in various organized activities and youth development outcomes. Organized activities included sports, sports and other activities, school-based activities and religious groups, while none-participation was also included. Development outcomes included academic ability, confidence, connections, character and caring. The findings of the study showed that participation in sports only was related to positive outcomes, while participation in sports and other activities had more positive outcomes and less involvement was associated with negative outcomes. In the same light, a longitudinal study tracked the academic achievement and developmental assets of 7th and 9th grade students for 3 years. The findings showed that the number of developmental assets that a student perceives to have is related to increases in GPA. Developmental assets included positive relationships, opportunities, skills, values and self perceptions. This study although not related to physical activity or sports point out that academic achievement is influenced by a number of factors (Scales, Benson, Roehlkepartain, Sesma Jr.  van Dulmen, 2006).

Although physical activity does not have any detrimental effects on academic achievement, the direction and quality of relationship of physical activity or sports and academic achievement however is not as clearly established. Taras (2005) reviewed the literature on physical activity and academic performance among school-aged children. The previous studies indicated that there is little improvement on academic performance due to physical activity such as concentration, however, long-term improvement on academic achievement is not supported and needs to be examined further. On the other hand, Fox, Barr-Anderson, Neumark-Sztainer and Wall (2010) found that academic performance was enhanced by physical activity whether from team sports or not. Carlson et al. (2008) conducted a longitudinal study that traced the academic achievement and participation in physical education classes on students from kindergarten to the fifth grade. The results showed that girls who had longer physical education classes improved on their mathematics and reading grades, while this was not true for the boys. Moreover, involvement in sports and physical activity was not associated with any negative effect on academic achievement of students.

Physical education classes had been enhanced by a number of programs and concern had been building on whether the said programs compete with the focus on academics, however, physical education is important as it helps keep students fit and develop interests in physical activities. The research on physical education and academic achievement showed that to some degree, it is supportive of academic performance. A research study evaluated a school-based physical activity intervention and whether increased time spent on the intervention activity was detrimental to the academic achievement of elementary grade students. The researchers measured academic grades before and after the intervention in eight schools who adopted the Action Schools BC program. The results showed that the intervention program was effective in increasing physical activity in the students without detrimental effects to academic achievement of the students (Ahamed et al., 2007). A study examined the effects of a physical education program to the academic achievement scores of students in the Metropolitan Achievement Test. The Sports, Play and Active Recreation for Kids Curriculum was implemented for two years in various schools, either by specialists or trained teachers. The findings of the study indicated that health related physical education have positive effects on student achievement scores (Sallis et al.,1999). Moreover, Coe, Pivarnik, Womack, Reeves and Malina, (2006) investigated the possible effects of enrollment to physical education classes and level of physical activity on the academic achievement of middle school students. This study pointed out that vigorous physical activity was related to higher grades than those who had low physical activity while moderate physical activity did not affect the grades. On the other hand, enrollment in physical education classes was not related to academic achievement. Another research reported similar results, Chomitz et al. (2009) tested the relationship of physical fitness to academic achievement of a diverse population of public school children in an urban area. This study used cross-sectional data from the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System in math and English and also fitness achievement from physical education classes. The study found that children who passed fitness tests were also more likely to pass the MCAS tests after controlling for BMI, ethnicity, gender, grade and socioeconomic status.

The association between academic achievement and sports involvement had been promising especially in elementary and middle school students even in other countries. Eveland-Sayers, Farley, Fuller, Morgan and Caputo (2009) sought to determine the relationship between physical fitness and academic achievement of elementary school children. The participants were asked to run a mile, curl-up and sit-and-reach performance was collected as a measure of physical fitness. Scores from the TerraNova achievement test was considered indicators of academic achievement. The results indicate a negative correlation between run time and math scores, while the same relationship was seen for girls run time and readinglanguage scores. A study explored the relationships between levels of physical activity and academic achievement of 9th grade students in Sweden. Cross-sectional data was used to establish the relationship of physical activity and fitness to academic grades. The findings pointed out that academic achievement was related to vigorous activity but not to fitness, while the boys academic achievement was associated with fitness only (Kwak et al., 2009). A longitudinal study explored the relationship between school sports participation and academic performance of adolescents. The study focused on gender and race specific differences among the jocks and athletes school grades and misconduct. The findings of the study indicated that female black jock adolescents had lower grades than non-jocks, while female black athletes had higher grades than non-athletes. There was no difference in the grades of male students whether they were jocks or athletes (Miller, Melnick, Barnes, Farrell,  Sabo, 2005).

Aside from sports, extracurricular activities have also been linked to positive educational outcomes such as academic achievement. The authors examined the effects of extracurricular participation to twelfth grade students educational outcomes. The educational measures were grades, coursework, homework, educational aspirations self-esteem, and substance abuse and university applications. The researchers found that there were minimal nonlinear effects of extracurricular participation to student outcomes. While it was also reported that school-based extracurricular activities were more advantageous for students and the most beneficial activities were sports and academic related (Marsh  Kleitman, 2002). In another study the personal characteristics of adolescents involved in different extracurricular activities such as sports, academics, school, performance, multiple activities and non-participation in activities was identified. This study demonstrates that those who participated in activities had better grades, while those who did not participate in any activity had lower grades, socioeconomic status and came from larger schools (Feldmanand  Matjasko, 2007).

The same associations had been found in the participation of children in organized clubs and groups from childhood to adolescence. The clubs or groups were identified as sports or cultural. The results pointed out that participation in sports and cultural groups diminished as children reached adolescence, while those who continued to participate reported higher attachment to parents, friends and school and had better self-esteem. This study showed that participation in sports or other group activities can have positive effects in the development of children (McGee, Williams, Howden-Chapman, Martin  Kawachi, 2006). Further, a study examined the relationship between extracurricular activities, school characteristics and academic outcomes. This study was conducted in high schools in North Carolina, where it was found that bigger schools have more diverse extracurricular offerings and had higher participation rates. It was also found that opportunities to participate were related to positive academic outcomes. The findings indicate that investing in extracurricular activities can be beneficial to the students and improve academic outcomes for the school (Stearns  Glennie, 2010). A more robust methodological study by References and further reading may be available for this article.

Shulruf, Tumen, and Tolley (2008) sought to establish causality of participation in extracurricular activities to increase in academic achievement. The study used a methodological approach that can measure whether participation in extracurricular activities can improve academic achievement and literacy. The findings of this study failed to support such assumption.

Academic achievement and sports participation had also been studied in accordance with other variables such as parental support, student characteristics and socialization and goal achievement. Student athletes motivation and goal achievement had been one of the explored variables in the literature. A study tested the validity and reliability of an achievement goal scale for student athletes between 9 to 14 years old. The achievement goal was assessed in terms of sports achievement and academic achievement. The results showed that the scale AGSYS was a valid and reliable measure of goal achievement, however, young athletes did not differentiate between sports and academic achievement. This would show that athletes are often motivated to achieve in any field or interest (Cumming, Smith, Smoll, Standage  Grossbard, 2008). Moreover, self-esteem is also influence by physical effectiveness. The findings indicated that physical attractiveness and effectiveness were related to male and female self-esteem across grade levels (Thornton  Ryckman, 1991). This would support the idea that adolescents value their physical appearance and strength. Luthar, Shoum and Brown (2006) found that high extracurricular involvement did not have any achievement pressure, while parent criticism and lack of parental supervision during after-school hours was associated with negative behaviors and the pressure to achieve. This was true for affluent students.

Parental involvement in their childrens extracurricular activities can influence the amount of time spent in extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities included sports, clubs, performing arts and others. The results indicated that parental support was positively related to increased participation while parental pressure was negatively related to participation (Anderson, Funk, Elliott  Hull Smith, 2003). This study showed that involvement in extracurricular activities can come from parental pressure and not the adolescents own interests. Papaioannou,  Ampatzoglou, Kalogiannis  Sagovits  (2008) explored the influence of socializing agents in the achievement goal, satisfaction and academic achievement of young athletes in Greece. The results implied that socializing agents had positive influences on the achievement goals of young athletes, and that there was a weak association with sports achievement goal and academic achievement, while a significant relationship was found for sports satisfaction. This study reports that the relationship between sports achievement and academic achievement is nil.

Statement of the Problem

The relationship of sports involvement and academic achievement had been the focus of many researches especially, on whether sports involvement enhances or distracts students from their academic subjects. The existing literature on sports involvement and physical activities and academic achievement had proven to be inconclusive. It seemed that the association between sports involvement and academic achievement is mediated by the type of sports, the amount of time spent on sports and the measure of academic achievement used (Trudeau  Shephard, 2008). Vigorous activity like that of sports had been found to be associated with gains in scores on standardized tests while physical education classes had not been found to be detrimental to academic performance (Marsh  Kleitman, 2002 Coe, Pivarnik, Womack, Reeves  Malina, 2006).

In this light, it is important to determine whether the level of sports involvement would influence academic performance and what level of involvement is the most beneficial to students. Considering that high schools in the country struggle with maintaining and improving academic performance, it is necessary to identify which activities support or deter academic achievement (Fox, Barr-Anderson, Neumark-Sztainer  Wall, 2010). Thus, the present study seeks to determine the relationship of sports involvement to academic achievement of grade nine students in five local high schools. This study aims to establish the direction and degree of relationship that is present between the level of sports involvement and academic achievement of students in the ninth grade.

This quantitative study will use the correlational method to establish the relationship between level of sports involvement and academic achievement. The study will be using a captive sample of ninth graders in five local high schools. They will be asked to complete a survey questionnaire that would measure their level of participation in sports and the type of sports they engage in. The accumulated GPA for each student will be gathered from schools records. The students will be grouped according to the type of sports they participated in, major sports, minor sports and no sports.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this correlational study is to describe and determine the relationship between level of sports involvement and academic achievement of ninth grade students in five local high schools. This study would be able to provide evidence to support or disprove the claims that sports involvement is beneficial to academic achievement. The ninth grade students will be asked to complete a survey questionnaire wherein they will be asked to indicate the kind of sports they are part of, their current level of involvement and the level of physical exertion they expend for practice and competition and the amount of time they spend for sports. Academic achievement will be measured in terms of the participants year-end GPA in the ninth grade and will be collected from school records. The correlational method is appropriate for this study as it is concerned with establishing relationships and associations between a number of variables and can be useful in determining the strength and the direction of those relationships. By using the correlational method, this study would be able to test its research hypotheses and would lead to empirical evidence that would contribute to the literature on sports involvement and academic achievement in high school students.

Importance of the Study

Sports participation in high schools had been a major facet in American education for the longest time. It has been considered as one area of student development aside from academics. But arguments against too much sports involvement had been around for some time as it is said to compete with academics and learning. On the other hand, some advocate seeing sports and academics as complementary, wherein sports enrich the educational experience of the students. Previous research had found weak support for the said assumptions, but what they proved was that sports were not detrimental to student learning.

The importance of this study to the educational programs of high schools in the country is evident as most high schools adopt the same curriculums and sports program and finding evidence of how sports involvement impacts academic achievement would help in designing a more responsive sports and academic program for high school students. The present study is also expected to provide empirical evidence that will show the kind of relationship between sports involvement and academic achievement as well as identify which level of involvement is most beneficial and most detrimental to academic achievement.

The importance of this study to the literature on sports and academic achievement is evident in terms of establishing how academic achievement is impacted by the level of sports involvement in the high school level. Academic achievement in high school is important as it is predictive of college performance. Moreover, sports participation is said to impact student life beyond that of high school, this study would provide knowledge on how sports involvement contributes to the educational experiences of high school students.

Research Hypothesis and Questions

This study will describe and determine the relationship between sports involvement and academic achievement among three groups of ninth grade students in five local high schools. The research questions and hypotheses are as follows
What is the profile of ninth grade students
What are the types of sports that ninth grade students participate in
What is the current level of sports participation of ninth grade students
How much time does ninth grade students spend in sports activities
What is the academic achievement level of ninth grade students
A significant relationship exists between sports participation and academic achievement.
A significant relationship exists between level of sports participation and academic achievement.

Definitions

The following operational definitions are presented to elucidate the variables of the present study.

Sports refer to an organized physical activity that is competitive and requires physical skills. Sports can be individual or team sport and maybe done in door or outdoor. In the present study, sports will be measured as major or minor sports.

Major sports refer to those team sports that are most popular in high schools and for which regular competitions or meets have been held. Major sports in this study are basketball, football and baseball for boys and volleyball, soccer and softball for girls.

Minor sports refer to individual and team sports that are not considered as major sports, where competitions are often seasonal. In this study, minor sports will be all the other sports that ninth grade students participate in that are not identified as a major sport.

None participation in sports refers to the absence of any form of involvement in any kind of sports. In this study, none participation is considered as one of the three levels of sports participation.

Level of sports participation refers to the degree to which a student is participating in his or her sports. In the present study, level of participation will be measured in terms of the students current participation level and amount of time spent for sports.

Academic achievement refers to the academic performance of students in the ninth grade. In this study, academic achievement will be measured in terms of the students GPA.

Personal Reflection

Creating something out of nothing is perhaps the most gratifying exercise that the human mind can accomplish. I had gone into this exercise with only an idea of what I want to study and how I wanted it to be studied. As I launched into the process of researching about the previous studies on my chosen topic, I realized that this task is daunting and at the same time exciting.

I had always wanted to study sports involvement and academic achievement because I believe that a crucial balance between sports and academics will be the best for our students. I have often heard about how sports take students away from academics and how in the end it is the academic standing that predicts success in college and beyond. However, if we focus only on academics, students would not be able to learn commitment, perseverance, discipline, cooperation, and teamwork. And if we focus only on sports, students would not be able to make it through school.

With a clear topic in mind, I went through every research article I could find that seemed similar to what I wanted to study, some where interesting to read while some where too technical and I had difficulty following the authors discussion and arguments. On the other hand, I learned a number of things from my literature search that there is a wealth of information available to us and that some or gold and a number are not. Using databases, it was easy to do a simple keyword search and every article that contained the key word is given in a list. What was daunting was sifting through those lists. In one search I got 2000 hits, and I found it impossible to read all of those. I concentrated on reading the abstracts and if the abstract described variables that I wanted, I saved the copy to add to my growing list of possible articles. I also learned that relying on the title alone is not a guarantee, because until you read the abstract, you would not get an idea of what the study was about. Moreover, I learned that the literature search is an important step in the writing process as it made me confront my own knowledge and lack of knowledge on my chosen subject of study. I wanted to study sports, and then I found that sports had been studied in terms of physical education classes and as extracurricular activities, which not only speaks of the complexity of my topic but also of the dearth of information that have existed in this field of interest. Further, I also learned that academic achievement can be measured in terms of GPA, standard scores, achievement test scores, SAT scores and a lot more. This taught me that I must be able to clearly define and delineate my variables and in how I wanted to measure those.

The task was exciting though especially when I come across articles that clearly studied my own chosen variables and I get inspired by their methods and findings and I always read their conclusions to find out the implications of their studies and in what context I could conduct my own study. When I started writing this paper, I spent almost half a day staring at the computer screen and thinking of how to best start the introduction. I guess, the beginning was the most difficult part, because when I started writing, everything seemed to fall into place. As my introduction chapter progressed, the direction and the variables I wanted to study also took shape. Everything became clearer to me and I was excited to finish it. I then struck another hurdle when I had to write the problem statement, I was at a lost and it took me time to read samples of problem statements and browsing over previous dissertations to get a feel of what should be written there. This had indeed been a difficult but rewarding first chapter for me.

The second chapter is the literature review and I am already apprehensive as to the amount of work it entailed. I already have gathered some materials for the literature review, I only need to continue with my database searches, reading and synthesizing those researches.

In the context of this study, communication is going to be defined as the kind of behavior that occurs as a result of meaning being attributed to a given behavior. If a person looks at our behavior and links it with a given meaning, communication is deemed to have occurred regardless of whether such actions were intended or unintentional. Culture as a term may assume many meanings and as such its definition depends on the context of its application. Culture has always been closely linked with ethnicity and thus intercultural communication can be seen as the communication that takes place among ethnic groupings. Culture can go beyond just ethnic groups to include beliefs, attitudes, religion, and experience among other things that a given group of people hold or value as a people. Intercultural communication is a concept that has been in existence since time immemorial (Hall, 1992).

Intercultural communication comes into play when members who subscribe to a certain cultural group have to pass some information to others who are not members of their cultural group. Certain techniques have to be employed to facilitate such kind of communication. Intercultural communication had featured in many studies but it was always embedded in other areas of study. This continued until the 1950s when Edward Hall was credited with bringing out intercultural communication as a concept on its own. He is thus deemed the founder of this field of study (Scollon  Wong, 1995).

This paper is going to focus mainly on the intercultural communication between the United States and Japan. Before the onset of the Second World War, the United States was seemingly isolated and as such managed to distance itself from issues pertaining intercultural communication. This ensured that when the Second World war came to an end, the United States managed to cut out its niche as the a country with an outstanding economy that faced no damage. The United States had an obligation of assisting the war-torn Europe. A barrier was evident on the front of intercultural communication and thus it hampered their efforts. The United States formed the Foreign Service Institute, an institution that was charged with the duty of training diplomats who were assigned foreign service obligations. In 1960, Intercultural communication had not established a strong base as a concept of its own. Most of the United States diplomats at the time who were serving in Japan neither knew Japanese culture nor their language (Bradford, 1960).

The United States was keen on ensuring that intercultural communication was highlighted to its diplomats in foreign missions. The United States wanted to ensure that foreign diplomats got the best quality education on the language used by their country of destination. Native speakers of these languages were hired to teach these languages and hence the culture could also be learnt from these people. Japan had also emerged as a considerably large economy only rivaled by the United States and a few other countries at the time. This paper lays great emphasis on the way intercultural communication between the United States and Japan grew to what it is today (Scollon  Wong, 1995).

Many scholars originating from both the United States and Japan had ventured into the study of communication behavior which was evidenced between the United States and Japan. By 1970, such studies had gone to the extent of exploring the differences that could be derived from individualism and collectivism, high-context cultures as well as low-context cultures. Such studies were concentrated between these two countries since, as great economic powers, these countries are more likely to engage in many business transactions as well as personnel interchange. Japan took serious consideration on the concept of intercultural communication as a key to business progress as this enabled them expand their business empires (Martin  Nakayama, 2007).

Hall insisted that communication involved more than just the oral exchange of words. Culture was considered part and parcel of any communication. Initially, Japanese thought that learning English language was enough in enabling someone to become a competent intercultural communicator. The emphasis that Hall laid on non-verbal communication caught the attention of the Japanese. The Japanese scholars were keen on characterizing their nonverbal aspects of communication. The Japanese did not rely much on verbal communication as much as the Americans who had initially found it very difficult to understand them. Studies that were biased towards intercultural communication were skewed towards gaining a clear understanding of nonverbal aspects such as facial expressions, proxemics, hand gestures, bowing, silence among other gestures that were common in Japanese communities (Hall, 1992).

The theoretical perspective that was formulated by Hall on high-context as well as the low-context communication was responsible for facilitating the understanding of cultural concepts in Japan. The Japanese did not invest much towards improving the intercultural communication with minority groups within its territory such as the Chinese. The Japanese mainly concentrated on English language and did not take a keen consideration on other people and their cultures. The Japanese were faced with the problem of inferiority complex when they interacted with whites who came from rich countries. They were also faced with the problem of superiority complex when they were dealing with people from low income countries. Hall defined low-context information as that in which all the messages were passed in an explicit manner. High-context communication involved more than just explicit conveyance of a message (Condon  Yousef, 1975).

Time and space are aspects that stand out in intercultural communication. Some cultures assert more value to time and equate it to money. They do not like losing time or wasting it while other do everything to their preferred perfection without taking the issue of time into consideration. This can be a great hindrance to intercultural communication. Culture may be a very powerful tool that can be used in the advancement of power. Face and face-saving is also another concept that comes out when people from different cultures interact. Maintaining a good public image when communicating with people from other cultures is a paramount aspect of communication as it portrays the status, power, and the respect of the communicating parties. Nonverbal communication is also a key aspect. Facial expression in Japan that could be deemed to be a sign of satisfaction in many cultures may actually mean the opposite (Bradford, 1960).

The scholarship that has been granted on studies related to intercultural communication has been a positive move towards better regional understanding. Japan could have advanced to a relatively greater level if it would have extended its research on intercultural communication to encompass the minority cultural groups within its territory such as the Chinese. This could have ensured that better understanding could be achievable between these countries. Japan should not be affected with the issues of superiority complex and inferiority complex if it aims at having a better understanding and cooperation with many countries. Good intercultural communication ensures peace and commercial developments.

Presentation and clarification of the problem

Historical studies and understanding of past events have shaped the course future political, military strategies and social development. Every culture and country is vastly influenced by its historical past and traditions passed down through generations. The perception of events has a distinctive role to play in shaping societal norms, traditions and cultural practices. Hence the significance of historical understanding is important in grasping the lessons from past events. History refers to the study of past events and encompasses a review and insight of past conflicts, alliances and chain of events that forms of the base of current day relations. History has been defined by authors like Marwick (1970) as cited by Watts (1972, p.41) history as what actually happened in the past history as our inevitably imperfect understanding of what happened in the past history as the continuing attempt by professional historians to extend our knowledge and improve our understanding of what happened in the past. The subject relates to the knowledge of past events, an understanding of past events, and the process of research that applies to the extraction of information and data.

The historical studies and understanding of past events and its significance in individual development of values, morals and ethics is the highlight of the paper. The school curriculum is designed to provide an improved understanding of cultural values, and social development to induce a healthy perception within student for different communities and nations. However, the general consensus of students has been that the study of history is irrelevant in pursuing future career options and the question of its relevance and contributions to individual goals and objectives (Kreis, 2000). Why study history The answer to this question focuses on two distinct perspectives

Why should students learn history  its relevance and significance to future goals and career objectives
The learning factor and student motivation in studying history  how can the subject matter be made more interesting for students to enhance the learning process.

The study provides an assessment of the historical significance based on theories, previous research and student opinion on the topic.

Methodology

Both primary and secondary data sources were used in the research process and the information gathered in the process has been presented in the analysis and discussion section of the paper. Secondary data sources are based on already researched and proven studies on the particular subject matter. These sources are very effective in formulating theories and presenting the facts and figures on the relevant study area. The discussion addresses the relevance of historical studies in school curriculum and its significance in instilling basic human values within individual. The study focuses on the topic through an extensive review of works of various authors and school research papers that emphasize the relevance of studying history. The school curriculum provided with lot of important insights on why the subject should be studied and how it relates to the development of the society within which we live.

Primary data is collected to gather a real picture of the existing situation within the scope of the research objective. This is usually done with the help of interviews and questionnaire that helps in analyzing the research topic and gain useful insights into the subject matter. During the course of this research process a questionnaire was designed for the students of the school studying history. The questionnaire was presented to the sampling unit consisting of 16 girls and 10 boys. The survey taken by the author of this paper was of great assistance in providing some useful insights into the topic. The questionnaire comprised of 7 open ended questions and asked the students to fill in their opinions on each of the 7 questions. The questionnaires follow an open-ended structure since the data gathered from such method is more refined and accurate in nature. The filled in questionnaires are provided in the appendix and have been used to provide an insight into the responses and information collected that forms the basis of the research analysis.

Theoretical overview on relevance of history in the school curriculum

The aim of education is to furnish children, young people and adults with the tools they need to face the tasks of life and surmount its challenges together with others (Curriculum Norway, 2009, p.5). Education serves as the means of qualifying people to assist in their future roles and develop individual mindsets and attitudes towards a more positive outlook and co-existence in life. The school curriculum has been designed to provide the students with an overall development and skills in diverse areas related to social development that upholds basic human values, responsibilities and active participation in democratic community.

If we are ignorant of the contemporary and historical experiences of a variety of cultures, then we cannot hope to understand why people, communities, or nations behave the way they do or make the decisions they make (US Ed, 2008, p.2). It equips us with the necessary information and tools to take able decisions.

Specific activities designed in the curriculum for this purpose are (Curriculum, 2009)

Finding and assessing historical evidences and information and make presentations to improve historical understanding.

Choose a historical character and analyse the social frameworks that influenced the actions of the person.
Collect substantial information and evidence from various digital sources to present a critical discussion on specific historic events and actions.

Identify some of the important points highlighted by researchers and provide an understanding of the event through various perspectives.

Explain the reason behind different time periods in history and the factors influencing the distinction of various historical phases.

History is a meaningful nexus between past, present and future  not merely a perspective on what has been (Rusen, 2005, p.25). The subject bridges the gap between the past and the present, the interpretation of past events that have a temporary change in society and influences the course of future events. Hence the knowledge of these events and an improved understanding of the past can help greatly in shaping individual relations, social responsibilities and moral obligations. Historical consciousness thus provides a platform that assists in comprehending past actuality in order to grasp present actuality (Rusen, 2005, p.25). The process of historical consciousness involves the study of content drawn from past events, an understanding of the historical significance of the events, its orientation with external and internal environment, relating historical orientation to moral values and reasoning (Rusen, 2005).

One of the primary questions students of history ask is the relevance of the subject in terms of future studies or career choices. A research report (2008) on Why Study History by the US Education department lists a number of reasons for students to study the subject. The report states that the study of history provides us with the ability to assess and evaluate individual behavior by developing an improved understanding of the past behavior of people and societies. Moreover, it helps us in understanding the changes that have taken place within the society over the past few decades or centuries to bring it to its present state. A study of our ancestors, different communities and countries provide us with an in-depth understanding of past events that have molded the present behaviors and existing religious, cultural, social or communal practices. This forms an excellent foundation for developing empathetic feelings towards fellow human beings and becoming a responsible citizen.

As Peter Stearns (1998), a noted historian observes History must serve as our laboratory, and data from the past must serve as our most vital evidence in the unavoidable quest to figure out why our complex species behaves as it does in societal settings. This fundamentally, is why we cannot stay away from history it offers the only extensive evidential base for the contemplation and analysis of how societies function, and people need to have some sense of how societies function simply to run their own lives (p.2). Policy makers and institutions while planning future outcomes are unaware of potential impacts or influence that the new policies may have on the society in context. In such cases, the study of history provides a strong evidence of similar situations and its implications. Moreover, the study of past facts and information provides a strong base for new research and development steps and its potential impact on the immediate society and community. Any policy or practice without adequate research and findings on past information may fail to deliver the intended outcomes. Hence the study of history provides a base for developing assessment skills, research skills, and analysis skills since students have to conduct an in-depth research of past events through exploratory studies, assess the information gathered to evaluate hypothesis and based on the assessment and evaluation the student analyses the events to form substantive evidence based on facts. Such evidence is helpful in framing future decisions or forming opinion on world affairs.

The study of history is very effective in inspiring us with emotions such as bravery, leadership, pride in our origins and respecting other cultures and communities. History teaches us that a single individual with great convictions or committed group can change the world (US Ed, 2008, p.1). Inspiration is one of the primary influences in learning history since the study of various revolutionary figures, leaders, and prominent historical individuals illustrate the significance of framing social attitudes, personality traits and strategies that re-defined human values and perceptions across generations.

History and social studies help students understand change and how the community, nation and world we live in came to be (US ed, 2008, p.2). Discussions in the previous paragraphs highlighted the significance of the study of history in analyzing present context in the light of past events and its role in policy making by assessing the possible impacts and potential outcomes. One of the key contributions of history is its role in helping students analyse how the community that they live in was shaped, the adoption of certain practices, traditional values and how the changes within the society that they live in took place.

Effective learning process and motivational perspectives
History has been labeled as a boring subject for many students and it can be little tricky remembering facts and figures that relate to the distant past. Conventional modes of teaching and learning are fast replaced by improved interactive forms of learning that involve increased collaborative tools and techniques in the classroom. Maier and Warren (2000) observe that the current methods of teaching and learning provide a more holistic approach involving the development of content or the knowledge base, intellectual skills, learning skills, personal and interpersonal skills. This involves the development of skills like critical thinking, problem solving abilities, creativity, time management, communication, and independent learner.

The use of technology to provide the students with visual presentations, animated sequences and digital tools to access unlimited expanse of information has added a new dimension to learning effectiveness. Sugar and Bonk (1995) state Electronic communities of learners provide an environment in which these collaborations can take place and students can collaboratively produce and analyse information. Teachers can now take advantage of these new technologies, and the worlds they open up to students, to change the way they teach and learn in todays classrooms (p.1). They also felt that electronic communities will provide the students with a more global education and enable them to view complex issues with a more global perspective.

Interactivity is a key element in deciding the effectiveness of the learning experience through discussions and sessions involving teachers and students. Vygotsky (1978) had observed that social interaction plays an important role in learning process. Arbaugh (2000) claims that learners involved in participative and more interactive classrooms are more likely to have positive attitudes towards learning and feel more satisfied. It is also seen that development of teamwork activities greatly facilitate communication among participants and increase their level of understanding of learning theories. The most effective teaching method involves a high level of interaction between the teacher and the student. Learning can be most productive when the teacher is able to gauge the learning capacity of the student, guide him through the process of learning knowing his limitations and shortcomings and providing constructive feedback. This process requires a two-way communication pattern between the learner and the instructor.

Keller (1988) states that one of the basic parameters of keeping the student interested and motivated through the learning modules is his attention. Once the attention of the student is on the learning tool the application needs to stimulate the learners curiosity that in turn leads to search for answers and in-depth study of the learning module. This keeps the student focused on his goal and helps him in the learning process.

History is a subject that explores the past and discovers the roots of civilization and the world. The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught but that every child should be given the wish to learn(Lubbock, 2007, p.71). John Lubbock has aptly described the kind of motivational level the teacher has to reach to achieve their objective of making a child wish to learn. The teacher needs to be more innovative in their approach to teaching history. Giving lectures and being a highly educated teacher does not mean that teaching is effective. They need to make sure that the child wants to learn the subject because they have an interest in it and how would they ensure that interest is generated and that is through motivation. Motivation for an effective learning can be generated through computer based programs, audio-visual presentations to keep them more focused. Computer games are a classic example of keeping the students motivated with their intriguing gaming technologies which keeps children hooked to the computer game. Rarely do we find a child who is not interested in such games where strong audio-visual effects combined with the gaming logic keeps them well motivated for hours. If the teachers follow this prototype it would be clear that with the use of technology and a good computer aided teaching then can do wonders for the students motivational levels. Getting the students to interact on the subject within themselves and with their teachers would be the outcome of using these interactive means.

Motivation is of two types. One is intrinsic motivation where a person wants to do something on their own or from within. This kind of motivation is present in all persons since their birth. A good example of it is that a child falls while trying to walk for the first time but still he gets up and tries to repeat it till he succeeds. This is something which the child wants to do from within. This kind of motivation is an effective form of learning as nobody can learn any subject if heshe are not motivated from within to learn. The student should love what they are doing. If they do not have an inner desire to do a particular task or learn they would never do it. They would always be thinking that why do we need to perform such a task which is of the least interest to me. Teachers should be directing them and showing them the path instead of trying forceful means.

The other kind of motivation is called extrinsic motivation where a person is motivated by external means. By external means it is meant that somebody tries to do something in return of a gift or any other material thing or it might be that person is threatened with a punishment that makes them compelled to perform a task. Compelling a person to do a thing can never achieve the desired result as the person is not feeling from within the need for doing such a task.

Studies have proven that as the child grows older their intrinsic motivation dies off and it is up to the teachers to rekindle the intrinsic mode of motivation. They have to rethink and redesign their teaching methodologies, be innovative so that the students get to learn their subjects in an interesting manner. This would be the only way in which effective learning can be achieved.

Discussion and analysis

The theoretical frameworks and a review of the various literary sources highlight some of the important facts related to the study of history. The historical understanding and consciousness is important in developing moral and ethical values among students that promotes the growth and development of a responsible citizen. Positive attitudes, well-informed individuals, and restricted biased views are some of the distinctive advantages possessed by students studying history. Solutions to social problems require the insights that emerge from diverse perspectives and experiences (US Ed, 2008, p.3). A well informed and responsible citizen can help in building an ideal society that nurtures positive attitudes, views and actions. The historical studies equip the students with the ability to listen empathetically to others, build independent opinions through in-depth assessment of facts and information available, and realize the significance of human relations, effective resolution of conflicts, and improved judgment skills.

The student responses to the questionnaire (refer appendix) identified some important points in context of the study. The opinions of the students of St Olav High School have been synthesized and categorized in the table below


YesNoSomewhatOther opinionIs the study of history important according to educational systems20Is it important to learn history191Do you find history fun and interesting875What appeals most to you during history lecturesWars, conflicts and evolution.
Cold war, Which part of history lectures do you find worstAncient history, social development, politicsDoes your history teacher motivate you1281How do you learn bestLessons and activities interactive sessions, visual presentations

The response sheet provided in the tabular format highlights a few distinctive points that are
All the students feel that the study of history is important in view of educational systems and individual opinions since it provides a deeper understanding of past events that relate to present social significance and relevance in developing human relations. This emphasizes the significance of the study of history in building an improved understanding of the past. The school curriculum is designed to enable students learn the process of assessment and evaluation of historical facts through various perspectives.

A significant section of the students felt that the study of history is boring and the details related to the study of past conflicts and events are uninteresting. The use of unconventional teaching methods using presentations, visuals and other interactive methods of teaching is essential in this field of study.

Most of the students found interactive sessions, visual presentations and classroom activities a source of motivation in learning faster and better. Interactivity as pointed by Vygotsky is an important element in enhancing the learning process.

The motivational levels of teachers play a vital role in enhancing the learning process through improved motivation. Motivation can be improved through the use of increased teaching aids and tools to generate interest in the class and assist in the process of remembering historical facts.

The theoretical framework of learning discussed in the previous sections illustrates the various means that can be adopted by teachers in the classroom to make the study of history both interesting and engaging to the learners. Motivation is the one of the most important components of creating and maintaining the interest of any student. History is a huge subject and makes one learn about varied cultures, countries, past happenings, wars and the impact it has on todays world. Considering the vastness of the subject, it is extremely important to keep students motivated which translate into an effective learning for them. Motivation can be of many types starting from computer aided teaching with audio and visual effects to power point presentations which will make the learning for the students intriguing and keeps them motivated with the subject.

A lot depends on teachers to keep the students motivated. According to the survey conducted with the students of St.Olav High School, some them have said that the teachers go on giving lectures which makes them feel boring and some have said that their teachers try to make it innovative by introducing power point presentations. Maximum of them were of the opinion that they were not motivated. Even if the teachers were having a good knowledge and were themselves keen to teach it was not sparking enough motivation for the students for an effective learning program. This was described by one of the students who pointed out that The teacher is in possession of much knowledge, and this shines through in his teaching. In spite of this, we are not motivated, even if the teacher himself finds it very exciting.

Another student said that We have a very good history teacher He knows the subject, responds well to all questions we have and spices the lecture with entertaining stories. He will start interesting discussions and encourages us to think for themselves.

This aspect of teaching also brings a variation in teaching methodology. The teacher is creating an interest within the students by combining entertaining stories while teaching the subject. The stories are depicting what he wants to deliver in his  her lecture. The students get more engaging in the lectures and start to ask questions. These kinds of interactive sessions with good debate makes the student more motivated for the subject and creates a self thinking atmosphere where they come up with more questions. This is a good example of interactivity leading to motivation and effective learning.

If the student really believes that it is worthwhile reading the subject then he  she will have a desire and a need to learn. Confidence building measures are another important -step to motivation. If the student is not confident of what he learns then he  she will be ill motivated and this will have a direct impact on the effectiveness of their learning. The teaching methodology should design instructional strategies through which the student can be more confident on the subject they are dealing with. This will instill them with an urge to learn more about the subject. The teachers should first evaluate them with simple tasks and then go with the higher levels so that their confidence is built while performing each task according to their difficulty level. It is important for the teachers to acknowledge the students efforts if they are successful. This will give them a boost in their confidence. However acknowledgement should be just and not unwarranted so that they know where they have succeeded and where they have not.Feedback from the students is an important step to ascertain their level of confidence in the subject. This will serve as a valid response to their motivational level which will make the teachers think about their instructional goals and strategies.

Teachers also help motivating the students is creating a classroom environment that is highly interactive. The students are given a say in the discussion, their thoughts and ideas are listened to and overall it is very interactive session. The sense of participating in a group discussion where your ideas and theories are discussed makes the student more confident. They have an intrinsic motivational attitude for learning more about the subject. The values in histories, how they are reflecting in todays world. What we should do and how we can inherit the varied cultures which existed. Schools should also have trips to certain historical places where the students can feel the existence of a particular event in history. Their involvement, dedication toward the subject will be given a boost by such trips. The areas where it is not possible to visit can be showed as a film or a presentation with audio-visual effects. The introduction of technology will make the student well conversant with the subject where they are able to relate the message giving with the aid of these technical tools. First they will be drawn to it by the technology and then we will follow the subject.

Conclusion

To conclude the impact of motivation on effective learning, it is important and imperative for the teachers to understand that monotonic lectures and references to books alone will not make the student enough motivated for vast subject like history. There is a need for innovative practices to be introduced. Participation of the students in interactive sessions, use of state of the art technologies to convey the subject values can be means through which the students will be motivated. Appropriate confidence building measures will further motivate them so that they can be more aligned to the subject. The discussion also focused on the importance of feedback from the students point of view. The question and answer survey of St. Olav High School is a good example of student thinking. It gives an insight to the teachers and the school management of the student participation of the subject. Knowledge has to be combined with behavioral aspects to generate self motivation among the students so that they have the wish to learn.


Here are the questions I asked the students (the questions are directly translated, so please rewrite them if necessary to make them better, so are the answers from the students, so it would be great if you could rewrite them to sound better)

Why do you think that the educational system thinks that the history subject is important
Do you think that the history subject is important to learn Whywhy not
Do you find history fun and interesting Whywhy not
What parts of the history lecture do you find best And why
What parts of history lecture do you find to be the worst Whywhy not
Does your history teacher motivate you to like the history subject How and does it work
How do you learn best

The girls (I have here split the answers in girls and boys, not sure if you want to use them separate or together. Together might be good since it is such a small assignement, but if there are any good discussion in their opiniondifferences in their answers please go ahead, but I couldnt see any big difference in their anwers)
Because it is important to know history of what has happened in the past. To know what happened before you were born.

Yes, because then you know what has happened in the past, etc. the wars and different cultures.

It is ok, interesting to learn about the wars and what has happened, but it can be a bit boring.

I liked the  first and second world war and the Vietnam war. Interesting to learn about what has happened. How and why the countries have changed and developed to what they are today. Which countries are in conflict and why. How technology and industry has evolved through the years.

I do not like ancient history, it is boring and a lot of material to learn. Because it is so fare from my  time, technology and industry.

Yes, he tries to make the subject more interesting by varying each class. He also uses powerpoint and asks questions that arouse the attention of students, at least for me.

Working on exercises, working with others on a theme e.g. cold war and lissen to the teacher having a lecture, but this can sometimes be a bit doll.

History is important to get an understanding for the local and international society, how and why they have become to what it is today. It can also give us an understanding to the cultural differences and why there are international conflicts.

I find history to be very important and it gives us a greater understanding and expands our horizon and let us see the big social context. History is also something that belongs to the general knowledge that is important.
I find this subject to be one of my favorite subjects I have at school. I think it is exciting, informative and fun. To understand history is for me to understand my fellow humans.

The cold war is without a doubt my favorite. It also shows us why we have different cultural problems today. The roman empire is also exciting, where great ideas and theories were designed. I also enjoy the renaissance and enlightenment era.I like lectures with power point and afterwards open discussions.

I do not enjoy the Viking era, to many different kings and battles. I find it unnecessary to learn, international is more important. I dont like doing exercises, it is boring.

Yes, he does his best to engage us, asking exciting questions and encourages to discussions. The questionsexercises he makes are interesting. The subject may seem boring, that is because it is a heavy subject and therefore you need a special interest in it to like it.

Through discussions, here you get input on different opinions which gives you a bigger perspective. Through lectures, gives you knowledgeMaking lecturespeech, makes you work with the subject which makes you remember it better and longer and it gives you better depth with in the subject.

Because it provides an understanding of how society has evolved into todays society. Provides knowledge and wisdom of how things and conflicts should be resolved on. Can understand the what people before us have gone through and their thoughts.

believe that history is very important, precisely because it gives me knowledge about what has happened previously and understanding of why things are as they are.

Depends on what the topic is. Is not always interesting with community development at the policy level sucks compared with the background to world wars and conflict areas. Although I am more interested in recent history than older history.

Documentary films that have been made in recent times and deal with conflicts over larger areas, this catches my attention most.

The worst is the section that deals with social development in Norway, it is more interesting when it comes to more countries or continents.

Through discussions. Had an incredibly good history in 8th through 10th grade. He brought out the interesting and gave new approaches to the different parts of history, in addition to that, he motivated us to think for our self.

I learn best through discussions and exercises. During the debates it emerges more objections that provide a better understanding of the various relationships in historical events.

Historical knowledge is important so that you understand todays society and why its the way it is.
 It can be very boring and unilateral.
Yes it is interesting but we have a very boring teacher.

I like good World War II because we had a teacher in the 8th - 10th grade that I learned a lot. I also like the old story from Egypt, Ive been there and found it very exciting.

I think that the older history of the Middle Ages is pretty boring. This may be because I do not know much about it.

I dont get the feeling that he tries to motivate us.

I like to see movies og pictures, because then I have something attach the topic to.

Because it is important to learn about the history to better understand why things are as they are today, so we can learn from history so that we do not make the same mistakes as our ancestors.

Yes, I think it is partly important, with justifications of what I have written above, but I think it is too much material and too many details.

Yes, I think its interesting, but I wish that the subject had less topics. Its a very difficult subject.
I like watching movies, and I feel I learn a lot from it. I like the most recent history e.g. wars.

Some history, and when there is a lot of details to remember. I think they go a little too much on small details, Id rather liked that it was a bit more superficial.

Well, not really. He is very committed individual and can the drug very well, but do not feel he is trying to motivate us.

Watch movies, read and then do exercises. The teacher can also have a powerpoint presentation, but not too long lecture that lasts the entire class.

Because it is important that we learn about how it was both in Norway and elsewhere in the past.

It is important, because it helps us to understand other cultures and countries. We become less judgmental toward others.

I think part of what we learn in history is fun. But as in all other subjects there are parts you do not like.
World War II, because it plays a huge role in why the world is as it is today.

Some of the things we learned about in ancient history, because it is difficult to understand how they lived.
A little, but not so much. It is mainly lecture classes and it becomes difficult to follow for a long time.

When I can combine it with something visual, that is, whether film, images or PowerPoint.Excursions are one of the best ways I learn in I museum visits.

Because we will get a glimpse of past societies and large events and understand how the foundation for today have been made throughout history. Much has been associated with religion as conflicts and wars, etc.
Yes because we should know the main features of world history and the causes and effects of conflicts to avoid making the same mistake again in the future. Throughout history, we can acquire both knowledge and good values and social understanding.

Yes, any recent history, since it is easier to recognize themselves in. Interestingly, the World Wars, etc. Not interesting about ancient history because there is very little news.

Group work and projects, use of PowerPoint. Dialogue between teacher and students, debate. Like specialization tasks.

Lecture, old-fashioned teaching which only the teacher talking. Reading and individual tasks.

Small, but the teacher has a lot of knowledge, which is inspiring. Like history in general, but older teachers are often less creative. Last season has my interest increased due to more varied work method, which is very motivating.

Team work, dental tasks and learning tasks. Also learn a lot of reading to try.

To understand the background to todays society and be able to learn from mistakes that have been done earlier and prevent it from happening again.

Yes, it is important to learn from history and to understand why things are as they are today.

I do not think that history is an especially fun subject, although at times can be quite interesting. The reason for this is that it can be incredibly boring. This has much to do with teaching methods to do.

I like when we see movies, use of PowerPoint or engage in alternative teaching methods. In my opinion, is learning, more interesting and I learn more of it.

Long lectures from the teacher without any visual aids.

I think the teacher is trying as best he can to make it interesting and want us to learn a lot, but because he is not so good with, among other things, powerpoint and other technological teaching methods and instead hold long lectures, I fall off.

Lecture with powerpoint, film, larger tasks, performances and assignments where we immerses us in a special theme.

History teaching is important for us to learn how humans and the world has been as it is today. History teaches us the wrong that has been made, so that we can avoid them. It is also important to know how things happened, so that we can easily understand why the world is such that it is today.

I think even that it is important to learn history so that we can learn about our origin and how society has evolved. Knowing that the Portuguese invaded Brazil, we can see why they speak Portuguese there today.
I really do not think that history is fun subjects, because it is too theoretical. But there are several topics that are taken up, which I find interesting and want to know more about, but often this is only a small part of the subject. The subject is heavy, and theoretical and is therefore not the highest on my list of favorite subjects.
I like the emigration to America, because I think its exciting to see how someone could just pack everything they had and create a new life on the other side of the globe.

I do not like so much the recent history because it involves as much politics as I really do not enjoy.
The teacher is himself so interested in history that it works in motivating us, but he is too kind and never checks the homework that means that we rarely make them. It is usually always the same students who respond when he asks, and it is they who likes history.

I have not found that out myself yet, but I guess by reading, doing exercises and listen to the teacher tells.

Because it can give us a better understanding of conflicts and incidents that still affects us. And in combination with the subject Religion we get a greater respect and understanding for people with other life situations than our own.

I think it is important for the same reasons that I wrote above.

It depends entirely on the topic, I like more recent history and preferably the events that we still see the effects of today.

Norways struggle for independence, World War I, World War II and womens liberation are all interesting topics. For there are events which were important in shaping the Norway and the world we know today.
I think we spent too much time on the great powers struggle for colonies in Africa, although I see the importance of it, it doesnt appeal to me.

We have a very good history teacher he knows the subject, responds well to all questions we have and spices the lecture with entertaining stories. He will start interesting discussions and encourages us to think for themselves.

Depends on the topic, but I usually read and take notes and discuss with fellow student and teacher.

Jeg har ikke ftt inntrykk av at historie er et fag som blir hyt prioritert ved skolen. Det legges mye mer vekt p realfag, norwegian and samfunnsfag.

Ja, det er viktig  ha godt innblikk Historien for  kunne danne seg et bedre bilda av grunnlaget dagens samfunn bygger on. Uten grunnleggende historiekunnskaper blir det vanskeligere  forst hvordan verden har blitt som den har blitt, og hvorfor den ser ut som den gjr i dag.

Historie i seg selv er nyttig og interessant, men as subject oppfattes as ikke fun. Endelse rekker av years to remember, names of places og statsledere i trre foredrag og tekstbkene that vekker ikke alltid like stor interesse. Mengden pages og mten det blir lagt frem i bkene har en tendens til  bli litt tungt.

Gruppearbeid og strre prosjekter hvor vi fr fordype oss i hver vrt spesielle emner er spennende og mye mer lrerikt. Foredrag for hverandre fungerer ogs bra. Dette vekker mer interesse nr vi fr jobbe sammen med de andre elevene og diskuterer. Its  also better to get an innblikk i the smaller topics enn et raskt overblikk over et stort topics.

Some hours may be incredibly boring, when the teacher has regular blackboard teaching. In these hours there is almost no use of powerpoint, laptop or slides, making it very monotonous. Often a class discussion between teacher and 4-5 committed students, often the same, while the rest more or less lose concentration and do other things.

The teacher is in possession of much knowledge, and this shines through in his teaching. In spite of this, we are not motivated, even if the teacher hinself finds it very exciting.

I learn best by either read themselves, and using repetition questions or specialization tasks. I think that there is too little time to do both and it is a little too much talk at times.

BOYS
Because one learns from history. Do not repeat mistakes made in the past. Learning about how our ancestors had it.

Yes, the same reasons as mentioned above.

Yes, it is quite interesting. Because I think it is important to know what people before us have done.

If the teacher holds a really interesting lecture or show a good movie.

Nothing special. Homework is not so much fun, but you have it in all subjects.

Yes, he is committed and knows his subject.

Do not know, most works for me. Really interesting lectures are good.

Because if we learn history we can better understand how society is today such as why we have some conflicts.

Yes, important to learn. Because we can understand how modern society is structured by looking at the past. Understand also easier conflicts such as in the Middle East.

Yes, both fun and interesting. History is easy to learn through reading and are relevant because we learn from history and can thus avoid conflicts in the present.

World War II, because it is so close to our age, or recent history in general.

Ancient history as the Viking Age and Middle Ages. Because its so long ago and I feel therefore it is not relevant to learn it.

Yes, trying to motivate. Making it through a positive attitude to the subject through body language and lectures. Clearly engaged in the subject.

Through exercises and through listening to lectures.

Because of the past, we can learn to avoid mistakes in future.

Its part of the general knowledge as it is of course important to learn.

Some topics are interesting, others not. Major historical events and developments are very interesting but the everyday life of farmers in the 70s is not very fun.

Ancient history and wars in general.

Norwegian contemporary  recent history.

Do not do anything special to motivate, except to show some movies now and then.
First, listen to the lecture then read through the material

We have a shared history that everyone must take a part in. We can learn from the mistakes weve made.

Yes, as mentioned above.

No, not really. Interested in world wars and the Cold War. Nothing more than that.

Alternative teaching and independent work.

Blackboard, lectures are methods that doesnt work for me. Difficult to keep the concentration up.
He tries, but it doesnt work. Too much talk from the teacher, seldom we work independently. He is very knowledgeable, but is not comfortable two transfer his knowledge to us.

Reading, assignments and write notes. I do not learn of the discussions and lectures.

So that we can learn about the past and why things are as they are now.

Yes, the same as mentioned in question one.

Could have been more fun.

Alternative teaching methods such as film and group work.

Long lectures.

Not that Ive noticed.

Read and do exercises.

It is important to know about the past and development. We are told how the world has been and how it is become the way it is today.

Yes, the same reasons as above.

This depends on the theme that we have about, but most are interesting.

Like when there are movies and some alternative teaching methods, not only the blackboard and lectures.

Lange talks because it is difficult to keep the concentration up.

Yes, he is engaged in the subject and very knowledgeable, but should be more variety in teaching.

Read and make notes, also movies and etc.

We should learn from history, mistakes that have previously been made. We should also have knowledge about why the world is the way it is and why many are in the situation they are in.

Yes, learn about why things are as they are and not make mistakes as they have done before, see question one.

Yes, like recent history.

Film and lecture. Different and engaging teaching methods.

Tests and long speeches without variation that I find a little humorous.

Yes, he is engaged in the subject and has much knowledge, but there is little variation.

Read and take notes.

That young people should learn about the past in order to avoid conflicts in the future. It is important to learn about how civilization has become the way it is today.

To a certain extent. History is a very difficult subject and it is very important how the material is presented.
But history is an important subject.

No, its boring. Heavy with lots of lots of text.

Visit the archaeological mueseum, small movie clips, long films are fast boring.

When the teacher is talking. Homework is often very long and heavy questions, and thats why no one does them. And there is no discussion in class.

History teacher is very involved in the subject and wants the best for the class. And the teacher is trying as best he can. but Im not motivated to study more of the subject.

Do exercises and excursions, learn nothing from the teachers lectures.

Teacher of the past, recognize the events llignende if something happens again.

Important, see question one.

Ancient history is more interesting than recent history. Because older history has events that are important, as recent history is more detailed knowledge of politics.

In ancient history the discussion was used as a method which I found very instructive and interesting. Has not functioned equally well in recent history.

Could have been a number of powerpoint presentations, lectures are a bit monotonous.
The teacher is clearly motivated for the subject itself and that is often a good motivation for students.

In ancient history, there were discussions, I learned most from. Powerpoint and own notes.

History is a part of the culture. Explains why things are as it is today. History is a wealth of knowledge that is valuable for every generation that comes after. History helps us understand life in all areas and aspects, both social, events and their consequences. In addition, we can learn from history recognize, compare and reflect.
I think it is very important to learn because - see question one.

I like the subject very well and find it very interesting, especially when we can see the context of things that are relevant in our day, such as learning about the Roman Empire that provide insight and greater understanding in relation to the Bible. This is just one of many examples of the application of historical knowledge. It is this application that gives joy and passion to learn more.

Topics - ancient history in relation to how the earliest humans were. Interestingly, in relation to how we as humans have developed. Roman Empire, Pax Romana, explains Christianitys spread. The Middle Ages, mans attempt to serve that which is beyond themselves. A lot of unsuccessful attempts to do Gods will as crusades and witch burning. Method - movies are inspiring, good notes from the teacher. The fact that the teacher is clear on what is important  relevant to the tests.

Enjoy the most.

Yes Cares about students. Tells interesting stories, helping us to associate the knowledge visually.
Good notes from the teacher giving us tips on what is the most important from the chapters.If the teacher makes powerpoints and I take notes.