What happens when pupils step into a museum and encounter the materiality of the past during an educational visit? Museum education holds many possibilities and outcomes – but not all of them are necessarily “measurable”. So, what happens when we focus on the relation between pupil and object? What emerges when we pay attention to the pupils’ experiences? How might what pupils feel, notice, sense, do, or interact with create possibilities for the development of historical consciousness?

These reflections sit at the heart of my article and are what drew me to this research area in the first place: the magnificent, powerful magic of things. In the article, I explore the richness and complexity of pupils’ perspectives on their experiences with the historical objects. The research itself takes a hands-on, collaborative approach: I worked closely with ten museum professionals – practitioners who work with history education every day – and experimented with creative methods to capture pupils’ experiences in all their sensory, playful, and relational richness. Of course, examining all possible emerging elements of such encounters would be far too broad. Instead, I focus specifically on historical consciousness, and in the article, I especially look at historical consciousness. Not as a measurable learning result or skill, but as part of pupils’ bildung, something that develops through experience, reflection, and relation.

Taking these perspectives invites us to rethink how we understand museum education. It suggests a shift from understanding museum education primarily as a conversation presided by predetermined meaning, to also understanding museum education as a conversation about and shaped by the relational encounter. This shift is not without its challenges. It adds complexity for educators, who must navigate dynamics where meaning, presence, materiality, and subjectivity are constantly in a state of flux. If the education focuses the conversation on the relational encounter between pupil and object, it may pave the way for producing and reproducing subjectivity. Objects are not passive carriers of historical information; they participate in shaping how pupils engage with the past. A glance, a momentary “wow”, an “ahah”, a gesture, or an emotional response can be just as significant. My article ultimately argues that museum education is shaped not only by pedagogical intentions, but also by pupils’ spontaneous, relational, and embodied responses. It is in these responses that historical consciousness begins to unfold.

A material perspective on pupils’ experience during museum education as a space for historical consciousness by Victoria Sofie Percy-Smith (Aarhus University, Denmark) is published in History Education Research Journal, volume 23

Victoria Percy-Smith is a PhD Fellow at Aarhus University in Copenhagen, Denmark. She teaches in the University’s Department of Education within the Master’s programme Aesthetics, Curriculum Studies and Education [Æstetik og Didaktik]. Victoria is an emerging researcher and will complete her PhD in 2026. Her research explores historical consciousness as a Bildung-oriented pedagogical concept and examines its connections to pupils’ experiences with materiality in history museums. She is particularly interested in how museum encounters can support meaningful historical learning in school contexts. Prior to beginning her academic career, she gained professional teaching experience at the history museums of The Royal Danish Collection.

HERJ historical consciousness HERJ blog museum education material turn relational encounter historical presence pupil experiences aesthetic experience qualitative cartographic observation qualitative photo-elicited surveys