Playing with the traces of history. A proposal for curricular historical study from heritage

Abstract

The essay is based on a real experience which has led to the design of various educational games. These activities mean to teach primary school history with a spotlight about the heritage. The project has been published by Elena Musci (2023), «Sulle tracce della storia», Erickson. The first part aims to describe some theoretical assumptions about the ludic approach to history and heritage education. The next section explains the criteria which enabled the production of the games, with a focus on a game named "Per le strade di Ercolano", the well known ancient roman city. Finally, the paper highlights the results of the work of historians and archaeologists, it outlines the methods of the didactic transfer and it describes the experience taken in a primary school class.

Keywords

• heritage education
• history teaching
• primary school
• serious game
• game based learning