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ABSTRACT
To combat the spread of fake news, researchers and academics point to the importance of historical thinking. While generally researched in terms of formal education, historical thinking is also being considered in history museums. This research study examined the ways in which children demonstrate historical thinking in history museums’ hands-on spaces using Peter Seixas’ six historical thinking concepts, proposed in 2007. The researcher video recorded the interactions of 29 children between 8 and 12 years old in hands-on spaces in three history museums. Results showed that children engaged in multiple instances and various types of historical thinking. Manipulable objects yielded the most instances of historical thinking across the six concepts, suggesting they may provide the structures necessary for children to engage in historical thinking. These findings may be useful to researchers interested in children’s historical thinking, museum educators, and exhibit designers who may be considering these spaces for their own institutions.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
About the authors
Megan Martinko is an Educator at Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett, Washington. She received her MA in Museology from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington and her BA in History from John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio.
Jessica Luke is the Director of the Museology Graduate Program at the University of Washington in Seattle. She has more than 20 years experience studying learning in and from museums, especially as it relates to children, youth, and families. She has a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Notes
1 Levin, “The Remedy for the Spread of Fake News?”; Turner and Lonsdorf, “The Classroom Where Fake News Fails”.
2 Ibid.
3 Wineburg, “Why Historical Thinking Is Not About History,” 13–16.
4 Andrews and Burke, “What Does It Mean To Think Historically”; Barton and Levstik, “Why Don’t More History Teachers Engage Students in Interpretation?”; Seixas, “Benchmarks of Historical Thinking”; Seixas, “A Model of Historical Thinking”; Wineburg, “Chapter 1”; Wineburg, “Why Historical Thinking Is Not About History”.
5 Levstik, “Articulating the Silences”; Barton, “Research on Students’ Historical Thinking and Learning”; Bolgatz, “Exploring Complexity Within a ‘Best Story’ of U.S. History”; Lucey, Shifflet, and Weilbacher, “Patterns of Early Childhood, Elementary, and Middle-Level Social Studies Teaching”.
6 Sundermann, “History Lab for Undergrads”; Marcus, “Representing the Past and Reflecting on the Present”, quoted in Sundermann, “History Lab for Undergrads,” 250–58; Lucey, Shifflet, and Weilbacher, “Patterns of Early Childhood, Elementary, and Middle-Level Social Studies Teaching,” 283–90; Bolgatz, “Exploring Complexity Within a ‘Best Story’ of U.S. History,” 1–23; Barton and Levstik, “Why Don’t More History Teachers Engage Students in Interpretation?,” 35–42.
7 Alexander, “What Are the ‘Six Strands’ for History Museums?”; McRainey and Russick, “Creating History Exhibitions for Kids”; Tisdale, “Do History Museums Still Need Objects?”; Wunder, “Learning to Teach for Historical Understanding”.
8 Baron, “Understanding Historical Thinking at Historic Sites”; Gosselin, “Historical Thinking in the Museum”.
9 Dyson, “Playing with the Past”.
10 Anderson et al., Create.Connect.
11 Gosselin, “Historical Thinking in the Museum,” 245–63.
12 Dyson, “Playing with the Past”; Marcus and Levine, “Knight at the Museum”.
13 vonHeyking, “Historical Thinking in the Elementary Years”; Seixas, “Benchmarks of Historical Thinking,” 6–10; Seixas, “A Model of Historical Thinking,” 1–13.
14 Seixas, “A Model of Historical Thinking.”
15 Lee and Shemilt, “A Scaffold, Not a Cage”; Barton, “Research on Students’ Historical Thinking and Learning”; VonHeyking, “Historical Thinking in the Elementary Years.”
16 Villa, “Rediscovering Discovery Rooms.”
17 Seixas, “A Model of Historical Thinking,” 1–13.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
20 Endacott and Brooks, “An Updated Theoretical and Practical Model.”
21 Seixas, “A Model of Historical Thinking,” 1–13.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid.
26 vonHeyking, “Historical Thinking in the Elementary Years.”
27 McRainey and Russick, “Creating History Exhibitions for Kids”; Shaffer, “Never Too Young to Connect to History”; Dyson, “Playing with the Past.”
28 Bolgatz, “Exploring Complexity Within a ‘Best Story’ of U.S. History,” 1–23; Levstik, “Articulating the Silences”; Lucey, Shifflet, and Weilbacher, “Patterns of Early Childhood, Elementary, and Middle-Level Social Studies Teaching,” 283–90.
29 vonHeyking, “Historical Thinking in the Elementary Years.”
30 Leftwich, “New Intersections of History Education in Museums.”
31 Lozada and Carro, “Embodied Action Improves Cognition in Children”; Renner, “Cognitive Consequences of Interactivity”; Danilov, “Discovery Rooms and Kidspaces”; Demski, “Museum Discovery Rooms Engaging Families Using Learning Theories”; Villa, “Rediscovering Discovery Rooms.”
32 Barton, “Research on Students’ Historical Thinking and Learning”; vonHeyking, “Historical Thinking in the Elementary Years”; Monte-Sano and Reisman, “Studying Historical Understanding.”
33 Alexander, “What Are the ‘Six Strands’ for History Museums?,” 239–46; Tisdale, “Do History Museums Still Need Objects?,” 19–24; Wunder, “Learning to Teach for Historical Understanding,” 159–63.
34 Dyson, “Playing with the Past.”
35 Ibid.
36 Barton, “Research on Students’ Historical Thinking and Learning”; vonHeyking, “Historical Thinking in the Elementary Years.”
37 Renner, “Cognitive Consequences of Interactivity,” 1964.
38 Lozada and Carro, “Embodied Action Improves Cognition in Children,” 1–7; Renner, “Cognitive Consequences of Interactivity.”
39 Tisdale, “Do History Museums Still Need Objects?,” 19–24; Alexander, “What Are the ‘Six Strands’ for History Museums?,” 239–46.