The History of History Teaching: Second Piece of The Puzzle

After reading this week’s selections, I returned to my initial project pitch and considered what I wanted museum visitors and students to get out of the game. One of the positives of using digital tools to promote historical thinking is giving students new ways to think through sources and challenge their thinking about history. In History in the Making, Ward discusses how most history teaching using textbooks was done to help promote patriotism in students. I feel that traditional exhibits work in the same way. These exhibits usually show a more stagnant, boring, and, most of the time, patriotic history. Using digital tools instead of these textbooks and traditional exhibits helps challenge how students and visitors think about history, especially challenging the idea of patriotism, which I hope my game will do. With this, I feel I must expand on my initial idea. My main focus for the project is to create a game focused on the propaganda in popular culture during World War II. In my pitch, I said I could include historical background information for people who want to learn more before playing the game. I did not prioritize that aspect because I expected my primary audience would be people visiting the physical exhibit that the game is connected to. However, after reading the selections, especially Narratives and Counternarratives, I realized that they, too, may need the background information to help them think historically about the propaganda in the pictures to complete the game. They might not remember everything they learned in the exhibit or need a refresher. The background information also challenges users’ preconceived notions about U.S. history they learned in school. It would also help teachers use it for their students to teach a more well-rounded history rather than the “stagnant” history from textbooks and allow them to broaden their historical thinking. While I thought about including the historical background information in my initial pitch, I now feel that it has to be included with the game and perhaps even expanded to give users the ability to think critically and use what they learned to play the game.

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