I don’t know what you mean by predictive history unless you mean a pedagogical method. It is true that asking students in any field, “What might come next?” can keep them engaged, build creativity, push them to review what’s been studied, get them to ask what needs to be known next, etc. However, this would only go so far in the classroom as it doesn’t teach content, sources, use of sources, interpretation, or methods (other than whatever predictive history uses). However, I’m not sure if you are using the term “predictive” in a more deterministic sense. If so, consider how bad we are at prediction. Predicting population change (which is just birth, deaths, migration in, migration out) is pretty hard. Predicting 9/11, the collapse of the Soviet Union, any of the “color” revolutions, the invasion of Ukraine, the rise of Trump, etc., humble “predictive history” (there’s no Hari Seldon). History is not physics or math, so it can not be taught like them. Cliometrics and cliodynamics didn’t get very far, as I understand it. Plus, humans are self-reflective, so as people learn about what the future might hold, they change and the game shifts again. Can you clarify what you mean by predictive history?
I don’t know what you mean by predictive history unless you mean a pedagogical method. It is true that asking students in any field, “What might come next?” can keep them engaged, build creativity, push them to review what’s been studied, get them to ask what needs to be known next, etc. However, this would only go so far in the classroom as it doesn’t teach content, sources, use of sources, interpretation, or methods (other than whatever predictive history uses). However, I’m not sure if you are using the term “predictive” in a more deterministic sense. If so, consider how bad we are at prediction. Predicting population change (which is just birth, deaths, migration in, migration out) is pretty hard. Predicting 9/11, the collapse of the Soviet Union, any of the “color” revolutions, the invasion of Ukraine, the rise of Trump, etc., humble “predictive history” (there’s no Hari Seldon). History is not physics or math, so it can not be taught like them. Cliometrics and cliodynamics didn’t get very far, as I understand it. Plus, humans are self-reflective, so as people learn about what the future might hold, they change and the game shifts again. Can you clarify what you mean by predictive history?