LEARNERS’ PERCEPTION REGARDING HISTORY SUBJECT AT THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LEVEL

Abstract

This research paper emerged on the basis of the pedagogical observations and interactions with school students as part of the internship program of final year students of a pre-service teacher education course. There seemed to be a huge lag in terms of the theoretical pedagogical concepts with which the interns were engaging at college and the pedagogy in practice which were being observed at the school level. Moreover, there has always been a biased perception that existed with Social Science as a subject in general, and History in particular. This study is an attempt to address these biases, understand the perception of elementary school going students towards History as a subject, provides an insight on the learners’ historical understanding or their lack of it, and to know their opinion about the relevance of the subject at school and its future scopes.