To establish a sense of community: The local cultural heritage in social studies education in primary school
Facts
- Contact person:
- Cecilia Trenter
- Financer:
-
- Swedish Institute for Educational Research
- Responsible at MaU:
- Cecilia Trenter
- Project members at MaU:
- External project members:
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- Martin Stolare – Karlstad University (project leader)
- David Ludvigsson – Linköping University
- Affiliated:
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- Arthur Chapman Institute of Education London.
- Danielle Ekman Ladru – cultural geography at Stockholm University
- Pontus Larsen – Linköping University
- Fredrik Nihlén Riksantikvarieämbetet
- Kristina MejlhammarNorrköpings konstmuseum
- Collaborators :
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- Karlstads kommun Kvarnbergsskolan
- Eda kommun Adolfsforskolan
- Eda kommun Gunnarsbyskolan
- Time frame:
- 01 January 2024 - 31 December 2026
- Faculty/department:
- Research subject:
About the project
The local community and its cultural heritage are potential resources for social studies education in primary school. While cultural heritage can promote a sense of community, it can also be a source of controversy. Teachers in primary school use cultural heritage in their teaching, but not to the extent they wish, which is why social studies education today tends to take place within the classroom walls. The past then becomes something students experience indirectly, through the teaching resources and teachers' descriptions. At the same time, research has shown that it is positive for students' learning if they experience the past differently; cultural heritage can provide the opportunity for a more direct, unmediated experience of the past.
This project, therefore, explores how the interaction with different ways of experiencing cultural heritage affects teaching and learning in social studies education in primary school. This is an intervention study based on two research circles within which in-service teachers and researchers jointly develop lesson plans and tasks where visits to local cultural heritage are integrated. These lesson plans and tasks will then be tested in an iterative process in the teachers' classes. Based on the concrete lesson plans and exercises, a didactic model will be developed for how visits to cultural heritage can become part of primary school social studies education and other parts of the school.