Greek-Cypriot pupils' understanding of narrative historical concepts

Abstract

This article refers to a research study which was conducted in Cyprus in May 1996 and which aimed primarily at examining whether fifth graders (10-11years) of the Greek-Cypriot primary schools have 'mastered' the narrative historical concepts contained in the official history curriculum. The research also aimed at examining whether the following factors/variables have significant main or/and interaction effect on the fifth primary graders' ability to develop and understand the prespecified narrative historical concepts; a) pupil's age; b) pupil's gender and c) parents' educational status. The research was dictated primarily by the assumed difficulty of pupils' in understanding of narrative historical concepts which have great educational value. According to the results of the study, the pupils failed to master the prespecified concepts and consequently the study verified the existence of the problem. It was also found that parents' educationall status affects significantly pupils' performance.