It is said that without a knowledge of history, origin, place and culture, people would be like trees without roots.

 

Although we are all in agreement, this statement rings especially true for Prof Elize van Eeden and Dr Pieter Warnich of the NWU. These two highly regarded senior lecturers and researchers in history and the social sciences recently launched a new academic textbook at the inaugural International Conference Related to History and Education in Southern Africa.

 

The textbook, Teaching and Learning History and Geography in the South African Classroom, is widely regarded as the first of its kind in that it treats the teaching and learning of both history and geography as interconnected disciplines.

 

Elize and Pieter are the editors, and several research experts in history and geography have contributed their special knowledge.

 

The educational purpose of the textbook is to efficiently recall and utilise research findings and trends from the past 20 to 25 years. “The major focus was to package all of these into teaching and learning guidelines and recommendations for education students teaching either history or geography, or both disciplines, under a social science umbrella,” explains Elize.

 

A secondary focus was to enable students to teach the Department of Education’s social sciences curriculum.

 

It is anticipated that the textbook will be used by second to fourth-year and honours students in BEd courses, as well as students in the PGCE, ACT, ADT and ADE programmes and practising teachers in the social sciences.