Catherine Bickersteth
Primary History Associate Consultant, NASBTT
‘Past tales come alive
Tiny hands trace ancient paths
Young minds weave through time.’
What did you make of this Haiku about teaching history in primary schools? This haiku was AI generated, using Copilot. How can history educators learn more about the uses of AI for history ?
Using AI as an educator is a learned skill. AI will continue to proliferate and develop but educators, students and pupils need to learn how to use AI appropriately. This is an ongoing professional development need for which there is a lack of clear guidance for educators. Looking at AI from the subject specific perspective of history, there is some research which it is useful to study in order to develop knowledge and stimulate further exploration of AI in teaching history.
One starting point from a subject specific perspective is to know how AI is being used to enhance historical knowledge, understanding and enquiry. There are positives to the application of AI in the work of historians, which have a wider impact on the history that we will be able to study in future.
The Royal Historical Society (RHS) explored ‘AI, History and Historians’ (RHS 2024) in a panel event. This provides a useful introduction to the uses of AI for historians as well as considering the challenges and questions raised. In this discussion, Hastie explored the balanced approach that is needed to use of AI for historians. She outlined the ways in which AI provides many positive advantages for historians, some of which are: digitalisation of historical documents; the ability to scan and summarise vast quantities of historical documents and images; restoration tools – AI can reconstruct missing parts of documents and fill in gaps by creating 3D images using remains of artefacts and defects that the human eye cannot detect can be seen by AI and thereby recommend courses of action in restoration.
A case study which can be used to show how AI is a powerful and positive tool for historical enquiry is that of how AI has been used to virtually “unroll” and decode the Herculaneum scrolls, which were burnt and buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago. When teachers are looking for relevant and exciting ways to hook learners into history, the story of how these ancient scrolls were deciphered using AI could be adapted for different age ranges. Schilliger and Youssef summarise the way they used AI to decode these scrolls (Schilliger and Youssef, 2024). If a primary school include a study of Mount Vesuvius and the Roman city of Pompeii as part of their curriculum, then why not adapt this to bring in a foci on how these scrolls have been decoded? How many children may become inspired to become a digital archaeologist after learning about the ways that the past can be explored nowadays? Whilst classrooms still share the story of the archaeologist Howard Carter exploring the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922, why not expand this to embrace the ways that archaeologists recover ancient texts and artefacts ? This also offers potential for cross-curricular work with computing.
These are tools which will impact on the history that is accessible and studied by all. In teaching pupils the skills of historical enquiry, AI forms an important part of the set of enquiry tools of which pupils should be aware . In the balance of pros and cons in the use of AI there are questions to be aware of about reliability , accuracy, bias and lack of AI cultural sensitivity or the social intelligence that humans can apply. Educators need to know what is meant by “hallucinations” in AI – errors in responses – and be able to flag these up and aid pupils in not falling prone to accepting all AI facts without questioning and corroboration.
Research carried out into the use of AI in primary history (Lea, Fidler 2024) explores the potential uses of AI in teaching history and provides a useful source of guidance for mentors, mentees and teachers of history. Lea and Fidler have developed a framework for teachers to follow when planning to use AI . The framework suggests four steps: collect, ask, review and explore (CARE). This framework can support teachers to use AI safely by being clear about the aim in using AI, reviewing the AI output, for example, content generated from ChatGPT should pass though the teacher’s professional judgement about relevance and accuracy, evaluating the results and then exploring by asking AI to start again, perhaps changing elements and providing more specific guidelines.
Let us turn to a practical example of AI being used in history to engage and inform people. ‘The Living Museum’ is an online project created by Jonathan Talmi, an independent AI engineer. Visitors to the website can select from an estimated 1.2 million objects currently held by the British Museum, and engage in a ‘conversation’ with the object to find out about its history, become a curator and explore further links depending on where your interest takes you. It is an amazing resource which brings a wealth of learning opportunities into the classroom, adaptable for all ages.The detailed infrnmation provided about the artefacts also ar helpful if primary teacher want to make cross-curricular links, for example, science: what materials is the artefact made of and what are its properties? Art and Design technology: which techniques were used to make the artefact? How could we design a similar item?
Research indicates that incorporating AI literacy into primary education curricula can be effective in improving pupils’ knowledge and conceptual understanding of artificial intelligence. (Heung Yue Yim, 2024) By embedding AI literacy into primary education, we can better ensure that pupils are capable of engaging with AI in meaningful ways. The need for more research into AI in primary education contexts is clear. This will aid subject specific AI to be more effectively woven into the history curricula and for cross- curricula links to be built upon with greater relevance.
For history educators, the application of AI in the world of history already offers a rich source of materials for primary educators to bring into their teaching.
References
Hastie H, Royal Historical Society ‘AI, History and Historians’ Panel Event (23 July 2024)
Written by Catherine Bickersteth
27th January, 2025
Thanks for the link to the Living Museum site – it was just what I was looking for to enable trainees to learn how to investigate an online resource.