The Effect of Teaching with Electronic Portfolios in Developing the Historical Thinking Skills and Spatial Ability of Tenth-Grade Students in the Subject of History

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the effect of teaching with electronic portfolios on the development of historical thinking skills and spatial ability of tenth-grade students in the subject of history. The researchers prepared two tools for collecting data: the historical thinking skills test, which consisted of 36 items, and the spatial ability test, which consisted of 20 items, whose validity and reliability were verified. The study sample consisted of 59 students from the tenth-grade students in the Zarqasecond Directorate of Education during the first semester of the academic years 2016/2017.The sample was divided into two groups, the experimental group, with 29 students who studied the unit of (Ottoman Empire) using an electronic portfolio, and the control group which contained 30 students who studied the same unit utilizing the traditional method of instruction. The results showed that there was a statistically significant differences between the students’ scores on both tests (historical thinking skills and spatial ability test). All the differences are attributed to the study variable (teaching method) and for the favor of the experimental group. In light of these results, the researchers recommended the use of electronic portfolios in the teaching of history subjects. Moreover, it is recommended to conduct other studies on the impact of electronic portfolios on other variables such as creative thinking, academic achievement and meta-cognitive thinking.