1. ‘You could see it in
your mind’
Which is more effective, first or third person
interpretation, for engaging young people in the
past?
Ceri Jones
Research Associate, RCMG, University of Leicester

2. Engaging young people
in history
• Can living history make history more
accessible, relevant and engaging for young
people (aged 11-18)?
• What impact can living history have on
young peoples’ historical understanding?

5. School Type Location Age (years) Gender
Number of
students
Site visited
School 1 Private
Outside
London
16-17 Female
20 observed, 4
interviewed
Museum of
London
School 2
Voluntary
aided,
selective
London 11-12 Female
2 classes
observed, 7
interviewed, 10
concept maps
Museum of
London
School 3 Grammar
East of
England
11-12 Male
2 classes
observed, 6
interviewed
Tower of
London
School 4 Private London 9-10 Mixed
2 classes
observed, 4
interviewed
Tower of
London
School 5
Voluntary
aided,
comprehensive
Outside
London
11-14 Male
40 observed
(school
declined to
participate)
Tower of
London
School 6 Private
Channel
Islands
15 Female
10 observed, 3
interviewed
Tower of
London

6. Immersion
• Cognitive, emotional,
imaginative engagement
• Experiencing the past =
beneficial

7. The challenge
• Self conscious
• Importance of peer approval
• For young children

8. Mimetic realism […] destroys history. To teach the public that the
work […] is to reconstruct the past as it really was erases all the
interpretive work that goes into the museum’s story […] Mimetic
realism thus deadens the historical sensibility of the public. It
teaches people not to question historians’ stories, not to imagine
other, alternative histories, but to accept an embodied tableau as
the really real.
Handler, R. and Gable, E. (1997) The New History in an Old Museum: Creating the Past at Colonial Williamsburg, Duke University
Press, Durham and London, p224

9. • Aesthetic distance - willing suspension of
disbelief but audience is aware it is a
performance

11. 30 minute performance
Modern museum gallery

12. As audience enter,
Harry, dressed in
period costume in a
slightly dishevelled
state, has his back to
them.
The Museum of London

13. Survivor of the Black Death
“Real-life” character
from The Canterbury
Tales angry at Chaucer’s
depiction

14. Self guided gallery tour

15. Object handling workshop

16. From Norman stronghold...

17. ... to Medieval Palace

19. Directed questions, critical understanding

20. Self-guided tour

21. Four students from School 1 discuss how the session at the Museum of
London made the medieval past come to life
Emily: Yeah, to say why something like … because he was being the …
Abby: Innkeeper
Emily: … the Host and he was like ‘my wife keeps me tied down’ you know,
you want to know those kind of things about history
Researcher: So you’re more interested in the kind of social-
Student: Anthropology, the social side of history, that’s a good word
Researcher: Okay so, it made it, would you say it made it more relevant,
history? More sort of-
Abby: It made it more approachable, the tale, like you could see it kind of
like in your mind.

22. I think [Chaucer] was
in the history book
when we went there
but now [...] he’s
walking and talking.
Emily, School 1

23. You always think
of them as so
different, I don’t
really know why?
[That is what medieval
people] were supposed
to be like [...] That’s just
normal for the period
Emily
School 1
Abby, School 1

25. Jacob: […] when we went in one of the rooms she just dragged on a bit -
Pupil: Yeah she did go on!
Jacob: - […] all the decorations, we don’t need to know about that
Pupil: We do!
Peter: We just need to know about the history not the decorations.
Researcher: So you didn’t see the decorations as part of the history then?
Pupil: Kind of yes.
Researcher: Kind of.
Pupil: Because it was what it would have looked like.
Alex: Or it might have been.
Researcher: That’s not the history that you’re interested in?
Pupil: No we like battles and like proper history.
Six students from School 3 discuss their opinions of the living history
performance at the Tower of London

26. Proper Medieval history!

27. Conclusions
• To immerse or not to immerse?
• Balance of aesthetics and historical content
• Independent learning
• Enquiry-based approach