When I was growing up, video and computer games were in their infancy. We didn’t have the amazing graphics in all their technicolored glory. The first video game I played was Atari Pong. The first computer game was Oregon Trail which I could never beat! I always died of dysentery long before I ever made it to Oregon.
In my teens, games started to evolve and one of my favorites was the Carmen Sandiego series. I loved chasing her across the United States and around the world, looking for clues to catch the bad guys! In 1999, the greatest one of the series, in my humble opinion, came out – Carmen Sandiego’s Great Chase Through Time. This game allowed me to chase her through history!
I bet you’re wondering why this game is so important to me. The Carmen Sandiego series was more than just a game. It allowed the player to learn while having fun. Don’t believe me? You can play three new Carmen Sandiego’s adventures on Google Earth. You can find the Crown Jewels, the Keys to the Kremlin, or Tutankhamun’s Mask (links below).[2] In the series, each player was able to learn about art, geography, science, and most importantly, history.
For most kids, history is boring. It is a rare teacher that can make history exciting for his/her students. It’s all names, dates, and places. Blah blah blah. So, introducing a game like Carmen Sandiego adds an element of fun! It, like historical movies, can be the springboard a student needs to find a love of history. It may not be historically accurate in all accounts, but if presented correctly, it can be the little spark that makes the flames ignite.
Think back to your days in high school. Was your class exciting? Do you remember having fun and learning something new and different? Did it challenge you to think creatively and dig deeper for a fuller understanding as to the reasons why this event happened or what repercussions occurred? Most people will answer no. And this, my dear reader, is why people hate history. Names. Dates. Places. Cue the sound of the Peanuts teacher talking.
What if it could be different? Professor Marcus Collins had a brilliant idea. He gave an assignment to his freshman college students and asked them to “write ‘a historiographical analysis of the history you studied at school.”[3] The article titled “Historiography from below: How undergraduates remember learning history in school”, examines how these students remembered their classes then and now. Many of these young historians stated that their elementary school time was spent with traditional form of history. The teachers taught the traditional/Rankean method “because it is simpler to teach the basics in order to understand more broad history later on.’”[4] Some of the students stated that when they reached high school, the teachers started to expand their knowledge beyond the traditional views, seeking to show them a more global experience to history. They were “exposed to “new” history in action, represented by ‘more complex topics, such as social standings and … economic influences.”[5] This allowed them the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of history. But sadly, some of the students stated that they knew no other way of learning history except the traditional way, so it was a shock when they entered college and began to see new ways of exploring it.
To be honest, this is exactly how I learned history. Names, dates, places. When I was at university, I was taught to teach history the same way to my students. Historiography wasn’t something that was discussed. So, imagine my shock when I returned to get my master’s and had a WHOLE NEW WAY of learning about history! It had been 15 years since I attended college and now everything was different!
The study of history is something that must evolve and grow especially where our students are concerned. Professor Caroline Hoefferle explains why we need to teach the study of history, and especially historiography, to our students. She writes in her article, “Teaching Historiography to High School and Undergraduate Students”, “that most high schools and undergraduate courses heavily rely on textbook readings. History textbooks are normally written in a narrative format, which sends the message to students that they are simply presenting “the truth” about the past, implying that there are no other interpretations of the events, no other truths about the past.”[6] She goes on to say that teaching “historiography not only enlightens students as to the inside story of the historical profession, but it also makes history more alive and interesting to them. This takes them away from being simply passive receivers of the truth, to active pursuers of the truth.”[7] What an amazing concept! Making history interesting!
Professor Eric Morgan continued this idea when he used the virtual world of Second Life “to transport [his students] to Europe during the summer of 1916, to the very epicenter of the First World War.”[8] Imagine being taught World War I like that! A new way of experiencing history can make all the difference.
I had teachers who made their subjects fun so much so that when I taught, I wanted to do the same thing. Funny thing is, I now have former students who are now teachers and are adding fun to their classes too because I showed them learning could be fun. I guess chasing Carmen wasn’t such a bad idea after all!
Links:
Bibliography
“Carmen Sandiego’s Great Chase Through Time (The Learning Company) (1999): The Learning Company: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive. The Learning Company, January 1, 1999. https://archive.org/details/CarmenSandiegosGreatChaseThroughTimeTheLearningCompany2001Disc2Of2.
Collins, Marcus. “Historiography from Below: How Undergraduates Remember Learning History at School.” Teaching History, no. 142 (2011): 34-38. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43260435.
“Follow Carmen Sandiego Across Google Earth!” Carmen Sandiego – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Accessed October 30, 2019. https://www.carmensandiego.com/game/.
Hoefferle, Caroline. “Teaching Historiography to High School and Undergraduate Students.” OAH Magazine of History 21, no. 2 (2007): 40-44. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25162115.
Morgan, Eric. J. “Virtual Worlds: Integrating “Second Life” into the History Classroom.” The History
Teacher 46, no. 4 (2013): 547-59.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/43264156.
[1] “Carmen Sandiego’s Great Chase Through Time (The Learning Company) (1999): The Learning
Company” Internet Archive. The Learning Company, January 1, 1999.
[2] “Follow Carmen Sandiego Across Google Earth!” Carmen Sandiego – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Accessed October 30, 2019. https://www.carmensandiego.com/game/.
[3] Collins, Marcus. “Historiography from Below: How Undergraduates Remember Learning History at School.” Teaching History, no. 142 (2011): 34-38. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43260435.
[4] Ibid, pg. 36.
[5] Ibid, pg. 36.
[6] Hoefferle, Caroline. “Teaching Historiography to High School and Undergraduate Students.” OAH Magazine of History 21, no. 2 (2007): 40-44. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25162115.
[7] Ibid, pg. 41.
[8] Morgan, Eric. J. “Virtual Worlds: Integrating “Second Life” into the History Classroom.” The History Teacher 46, no. 4 (2013): 547-59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43264156.
Seeking History 
LOVE the post! I had a homeschool mom, so history was NEVER boring, so I wanted to share my love of the subject with others. Two sides of the same coin! Thanks!
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