피라미드토론을 적용한 역사과 교수학습방법 연구

Abstract

A Study of History Teaching and Learning Methods Applying the Pyramid Debate

Myung Hee Youm

Graduate School of Education Pukyong National University

Abstract Korean society is rapidly turning into a multi-racial and multi-cultural society. Under these circumstances, there is a growing need for education to cultivate a perception of others based on pluralistic views or values. In order for students to have a multi-dimensional perspective and value through history, it is important to present students learning materials with various perspectives regarding historical facts; however, more important is how the students accept them. Therefore, the researcher had more interest in teaching and learning methods than learning content and made the decision to write this thesis entitled 'A Study of History Teaching and Learning Methods Applying the Pyramid Debate.' Debate class is a good teaching method that allows students to read and analyze given learning materials and then clarify their thoughts and opinions, to accept others' opinions through communications with them and to objectify their opinions, acquiring various perspectives and values. The reasons behind why the researcher chose the pyramid debate method out of various types of debate classes were that it allows students to clarify their opinions, leads all the students in a class to participate in the debate through 1:1 debate, 2:2 debate, 4:4 debate and whole debate and follows such a simple procedure that even beginners can easily participate in it. This study aimed at grasping how significantly history teaching and learning methods applying the pyramid debate impacts the cultivation of an understanding of history with various perspectives and values. To this end, the researcher developed a plan for history teaching and learning applying the pyramid debate and then offered a pyramid debate class three times during the year 2009 while conducting a national history curriculum to 230 11th graders in Busan National Mechanical Technical High School. In order to analyze the results of the pyramid debate class, surveys of the students were conducted before and after delivering the class. Contrary to the heated atmosphere they created during the debate class, they showed negative reactions to the debate class because they felt burdened with the class. They largely showed negative reactions to student-led classes as well as to debate class. As quantitative research through surveys alone could not produce significant results, the researcher also conducted qualitative research that analyzed the actual content of the debate and the written materials the students recorded in their debate activity sheets during the class in order to grasp actual changes they showed. According to the results of the analysis, the students displayed increasingly intensive interest and concentration along with further debate classes and got accustomed to it. In addition, as they read more reading materials, their ability to analyze thoughts improved. Furthermore, while forming their opinions through the analysis of thoughts, they showed improvement in their creativity and imagination and came to recognize the diversity of opinions on a certain object and situation during debate. Especially, it is noteworthy to see students to develop attitudes to listen to others' opinions while expressing their opinions with confidence. In conclusion, this study found that the history teaching and learning method applying the pyramid debate not only cultivates the understanding of history with pluralistic perspectives and various values but also improves historical thinking ability. As history teaching and learning method applying the pyramid debate method is a desirable teaching and learning method that corresponds with the aim of history education and meets the demand of this society, this study is substantially significant and expected to produce good results in the field of actual education.