Creative Tools for Teaching History -- from Museums to Books to Video Games

Keeping history alive seems to be one of my callings in life. It all started when I started volunteering at my local historical society museum and looking at their marvelous displays. I soon became a docent, leading tours for school kids, and discovering that when they could look at historic artifacts and displays they got more excited about learning. It was also while being a docent guide that I first learned about living history, and, over time, I developed two living history personas. Again, doing these presentations for the schools, I couldn't get over how excited the kids were. This was probably because I was a living, breathing representation, and it was the enthusiasm from all those kids that inspired me to start writing my series of children's books on the history of the Old West.

I'm amazed that I have an interest in history at all. When I was a kid in school we didn't take field trips to the historical society museum, (it didn't exist at that time), nor did we ever have a living historian visit our school. Instead we were taught history from dull, boring textbooks and the occasional 16 mm movie, which was all narration and no dialog and almost as boring as the textbook. It wasn't until I started college, and took history courses for my liberal arts requirements, that I started becoming more interested in history. There I had professors who were good speakers and storytellers and who were able to make the subject matter interesting.

When it comes to learning history kids today have it so much better. Along with historical museums and living historians and book authors like myself, they have interactive video games to help them learn history. I've not tried any myself, but I've heard from others who have, and they sound pretty interesting. Instead of learning about a historic battle in a dull history book they get to have a virtual experience with sophisticated graphics and interactive software. If experiencing history in a virtual setting doesn't help them learn I don't know what will, although the books, museums and living historians certainly don't hurt either.

What an interesting time to be a kid.

GM