| This study originated from a concern over the way history is presented to schoolchildren and a belief that planning, projecting futures, and history, reflecting on pasts, share much in common. History schoolbooks stress an orientation to the past and a linear view of time. By putting elements of planning into the history curriculum, it was argued that a reconceptualization oriented to future, past and present could emerge. The study aimed to design, implement and evaluate a simulation-game for schoolchildren that presented a different time orientation to history. Was there evidence of planning, strategic thinking and construction of alternative futures in history on the part of students who played? What happened when the attempt was made to bring about change in education?;The simulation allowed students to develop a generic township in a geo-historical setting. A computer conference served as a means of communication between students and teachers in different schools developing the same township. Five fifth grade and two eighth grade classes participated. Data consisted of recorded conversations with teachers and administrators, site visits to classrooms, past experiences with history simulations, interactions on the computer conference, and student homework. Methodologies included gaming-simulation, participant-observation, thematic and content (grammatical) analysis.;Results emphasized how design of classroom materials affects implementation and use. Elementary and middle school experiences highlighted problems unique to each. Those that succeeded in playing the simulation showed signs of planning through history by projecting, reflecting, strategizing and personalizing historical material; by adopting a constructivist philosophy of history. The culture and technology of schooling illuminated tension between change and continuity. |
