In our article for History Education Research Journal, we examine what possibilities exist for students to learn through encounters with historical sites, such as the Holocaust camps in Auschwitz-Birkenau. We investigated this issue through the pre- and post-visit work of a group of Swedish students who took a school trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The empirical analysis of the students' responses in this study contradicts previous research findings that suggest that affective experiences prevent effective learning.

Study trips to the Holocaust camps have become increasingly common. About a third of Sweden's municipalities plan for annual study trips to Auschwitz - Birkenau for school students. But, what can these visits contribute to history education?

We have investigated the issue by following a group of students who, as part of a school activity, undertook a study trip to Auschwitz – Birkenau. The study trip was part of a larger study where we examined the students' experiences during the concluding examination seminar. Based on a model developed by Zachrich et al. (2020), capturing how encounters with complex historical sources can result in physical, affective and cognitive experiences, we analyse students’ statements and reaction to the Holocaust camp, examining how these different forms of experience can be related in students' interpretations.

Our results show that the students expressed numerous physical reactions, such as feeling difficulty breathing when visiting the gas chambers. We also observed examples of affective responses of sorrow, for example after seeing all the hair from deceased people preserved in the camp. There is also a significant number of cognitive responses; one of the students says, “even though I experienced panic during the visit, I can still think that I can leave the place, unlike those who were interned there when it happened”. In this last example, we also see the relationship between the affective feeling of panic linked with cognitive processing. In this respect, the empirical analysis of the students' responses in this study contradicts previous research findings that suggest that affective experiences prevent effective learning.

What conclusions can be drawn regarding the potential of teaching and learning at historical sites? There are examples in this study where the students demonstrate an epistemological awareness of how their trip provided them with unique learning opportunities. They see that the encounter with historical artefacts in their historical context contributes to a different understanding of history. Walking along the descent ramps inside the concentration camp provides different interpretive possibilities than reading about the same thing in books. However, there are examples where students also acknowledge an epistemological awareness that there may be limitations in fully understanding the past.

Our paper points to the possibilities that exist in considering the school trip site in connection with the planning of teaching, the importance of the site, and the effect that this can have on students' learning of history. Here, we also want to particularly emphasize the importance of pre- and post-visit work.

Our results also indicate that students' historical orientation, the visit, their knowledge of the historical period, and their present-day experiences are intertwined. We argue that school trips can actualize the educational potential between historical-cultural contexts and contemporary social issues. Encounters with the historical sites encourages students to improve society by acting themselves, as well as by convincing others to act - students express a historically oriented and future-oriented moral stance.

By integrating visits to historical sites into curricula, history education has a potential to offers students an opportunity to engage in critical analysis of the past and recognize its relevance in their daily lives. It enables students to comprehend that they are both influenced by history and actively involved in shaping it.

Publishing our research in the History Education Research Journal, our intention is to contribute to the discussion on research regarding teaching and learning in general, and specifically at historical sites. Additionally, we aim for our paper to contribute to teachers' discussions on the planning, implementation, and evaluation of teaching strategies.

School trips to historical sites: students’ cognitive, affective and physical experiences from visits to Auschwitz by Mikael Berg (Dalarna University, Sweden) and Martin Stolare (Karlstad University, Sweden) is published in History Education Research Journal, volume 21

historical sites study trips affective and physical experiences cognitive teaching and learning about the Holocaust study trips historical sites