The thematic approach takes a theme, e.g., “increasing freedom,” and traces it through history, marking significant points: Hammurabi, Moses, Aristotle, Cicero, the Magna Carta, the Glorious Revolution, the U.S. Declaration of Independence, etc.
The chronological approach is clear from its name. A “chronology” is a listing of events in temporal order, with explanations about the events along the way.
A biographical approach focuses on individuals, exploring their lives in the context of the times in which they lived.
Episodic treats history as a series of events or epochs, and explores them in turn.
There has been, and will be, endless discussions about the merits and disadvantages of these and other approaches. One common element among them all is the constant need to omit material because of a finite amount of instructional time.
It is difficult to find or construct a program of instruction which uses one of these approaches purely. They are almost always to some extent mixed with each other. Sometimes the mixing is intentional and explicit; in other instances, the mixing is done unwittingly and unintentionally.
Aside from whichever blend of approaches one chooses, the next step is to ensure that concrete and specific places, people, times, and events are loaded into the curriculum.
For example, instruction would be judged deficient if it centered on describing the characteristics of “The Age of Reason.” This would be attaching generalizations to a concept which is itself merely a construct, e.g, “people in the Age of Reason valued moderation.” A ‘construct’ like ‘The Age of Reason’ is vague and indefinite generalization, with no clear time or place. Generalizations can be helpful in history instruction, but they cannot stand alone; they must be made with reference to data and evidence.
Effective history instruction would mention, e.g., that “The Age of Reason” included authors like Descartes, Newton, and Kepler, in places like France, England, and Germany, during the time period from approximately 1590 to 1730. This more effective instruction includes people, places, and times. The books these authors wrote and the discoveries they made would complete the curriculum by adding those concrete and specific events.
Perhaps the most effective instruction would omit the construct “The Age of Reason” entirely, and explore the people, places, dates, and events, allowing them to stand on their own.
The danger which lurks for teachers is this: An instructor can spend so much time and energy developing and implementing a methodology and pedagogy that she or he fails to add a maximum possible amount of data and evidence into the curriculum. The most beautiful approach can still fail, if at the end, the students do not know who did what when.
