Historical Thinking, AI and Digital Historical Literacy, and Civic Outcomes: Towards a Future-Ready Historical and Civic Literacy Framework for Readings in Philippine History
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69569/jip.2026.433Keywords:
Civic agency, Democratic citizenship, Digital historical literacy, Generative artificial intelligence, Historical thinkingAbstract
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) and digitally mediated information are transforming how students encounter, interpret, and evaluate historical narratives. This quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive-correlational study examined the self-reported historical thinking, AI and digital historical literacy, civic agency, and democratic citizenship of 315 students enrolled in Readings in Philippine History at a private higher education institution in Laguna, Philippines. Data were collected using a 114-item researcher-developed questionnaire that underwent expert validation and pilot testing. The four major scales demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranging from .88 to .90. However, because factor-analytic and discriminant-validity evidence was unavailable, the findings were interpreted as associations among theoretically specified self-report scales. Results showed that students manifested all four competencies to a great extent. Historical thinking was strongly associated with civic agency (r = .778) and democratic citizenship (r = .700). AI and digital historical literacy was also strongly associated with historical thinking (r = .727), civic agency (r = .741), and democratic citizenship (r = .695), with all relationships significant at p < .001. These findings indicate that students’ capacities to evaluate historical evidence and critically engage with AI-mediated information are closely connected with their perceived civic and democratic competencies. The study contributes preliminary, noncausal evidence supporting a more integrated approach to history education that combines disciplinary inquiry, digital verification, ethical AI use, and civic formation. It proposes a Future-Ready Historical and Civic Literacy Framework to guide curriculum enhancement in Readings in Philippine History, subject to independent measurement validation, pilot implementation, and outcome evaluation.
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