World history and lower secondary school: some basic issues and a didactic hypothesis

Abstract

Although as a methodological approach it has already spread in the English-speaking world for over thirty years, the world history still fails to find its rightful place in Italy. Actually, in our country history didactics finds its main settings around the guidelines of Eurocentrism and the nation-state, leaving aside the study of other societies on a global scale and the connections that have contributed to develop them. In this statement, in addition to a brief historiographical excursus, are also provided some important issues to better understand if the world history can be brought in lower secondary school classes. About that, a didactic hypothesis based on a series of key themes in human history and on the use of graphic organizers for learning is here outlined.