Abstract

Objective: this article was to analyze the perceptions of factors of historical change, visions of the future, and the meaning of history among Chilean secondary school students. Methodology: was based on a non-experimental, cross-sectional, descriptive quantitative study in which 431 secondary school students from the central and southern macro-regions of the country answered a closed questionnaire on topics associated with youth and history. The descriptive analysis of the data referring to the variables studied included frequency distributions and measures of central and dispersion tendencies. Results: the factors of change, young people emphasize continuities more than the historical transformations of recent decades. They present visions and expectations for the future that denote a negative perspective. For them, history has a usefulness that allows them to see what lies behind events, but this position fails to provide temporal orientations that transcend the present. Finally, the curriculum's historical time structure does not allow them to adequately develop a notion of temporality. Conclusion: Chilean youth approach historical change as invariability, which reinforces the continuity of the past in the future. This view is explained in part by the legacies and experiences of recent national and regional history and by a presentist view of history implicated in technological change and global conflicts, this reinforces a dystopian vision of the future among students