Abstract
A trend in history education has been a transition from a more banking approach where students are expected to memorize discrete dates, names, and places, towards a focus on historical thinking skills. In this quantitative research, the self-reported historical thinking skills of education students measured through a validated tool (Meral, et al., 2022) across seven specializations at Bohol Island State University are described and compared along with demographic profile. Results indicate that students exhibit proficient levels of historical thinking, with overall mean scores of 3.69 across the components. Significant differences were found in self-reported historical thinking skills based on the Senior High School (SHS) strand (p=0.039) and specialization (p=0.006), while no significant differences were observed based on age (p=0.723) or religious affiliation (p=0.663). The limited explanatory power of demographic factors (1.2%) highlights the need for future research to explore other potential influences, such as instructional strategies and cognitive differences. The study's limitations include its reliance on self-reported data and the specificity to students, calling for broader and more comprehensive future studies.
