Use and Users

 Target Audience: Middle School Age Children

This local history project is intended to be used with seventh graders. We decided on this age group for a few reasons. Modern middle schoolers are old enough to use interactive internet technology independently and have a basic understanding of maps (Hollister 279). However, they are still young enough that they might not be aware of the local history in their immediate area. They might not yet feel tied to their local community, and we hope that experiencing the local history of their home might help instill a sense of interest and belonging to the area. Other users of our project outline might be archivists, teachers, school librarians, public librarians, or even parents who want to try a similar project.

Our reason for focusing on local history and interactive online technology (like Historypin) is that young teens in particular tend to give more attention to their own microcosm of existence (their home, their school, their family, their friends) than to "big-picture" ideas common to school subjects like history, which seem irrevelant to their day-to-day lives (Mitchell 148). However, while they may be averse to memorization-based subjects like history or geography, they do have a sharp interest in technology, including in educational settings. We would like to harness these fields of interest and combine them into a unique educational experience that utilizes the students' interest in their immediate vicinity and their enthusiasm towards interactive online technology.

Likewise, Historypin offers a very visual format for local history, where the user can see the picture as it was then and the view of what it looks like now. For younger students who might find history textbooks boring or dense, being able to compare old and new pictures of local landmarks would be much more engaging. The fade from the old picture to the modern street view offers a sort of instant gratification that students who have grown up with the internet may find appealing, and it would be a great boon to visual learners. It also draws a very direct connection from the history of the community to the modern community in which the student lives.

References:  
1) Hollister, Victoria Goben. "Arriving Where We Started: Using Old Maps in a Middle School Social Studies Classroom." Social Education 58.5 (1994): 279-280.
2) Mitchell, Katharyne and Sarah Elwood. "Engaging Students through Mapping Local History." Journal of Geography, 111:4, 148-157. 2012.