“Playing with the past. Historical video games as digital bridges to critical understanding in museums and schools” is a project co-led by Mario Carretero and Mikel Asensio (UAM). The proposal focuses on the opportunities and limits of video games and gamified activities in history education, in both formal (schools) and informal (museums) settings. The study explores how digital formats help or hinder young people in achieving the core objectives of history education — in particular, the development of a critical, reflective and complex view of the past. The main research questions are: How does video-game players’ prior knowledge of a topic and their cultural identities interact with how they play in the context of formal (school) and informal (museum) learning activities related to colonisation? What is the impact of video-game historical narratives on players’ historical representations? How do they connect game content with current events? Do these appropriations reflect enhanced historical thinking? How do their cultural identities shape these learning processes?
