Shaffer, Sharon. “Never too Young to Connect to History: Cognitive Development and Learning.” In Connecting Kids to History with Museum Exhibitions, edited by D. Lynn McRainey and John Russick, 31-47. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2010.
In this chapter, Shaffer explores constructivist theory and how it can be related to children’s learning in a history museum. She begins with a discussion of history and how powerful it is for children. For a child, history is viewed as everything that has already happened as they view it initially in connection to people, places and things rather than through a sequence of events. As children mature more nuanced views on history emerge. Shaffer follows with an explanation of constructivist theory, biology vs. environment, through the views of four theorists: John Dewy, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Howard Gardner. It is important to understand the characteristics of a young learner and Shaffer explores four areas of learning and historical understanding in young children: sense of time, a personal history, sequencing, and sorting and classifying. Shaffer concludes with a discussion on history museums and how they must devise sensory experiences that are relevant to and engaging for children. It is through the lens of constructivist theory that museums can create exhibitions that allow children to “experience history in meaningful and age appropriate ways.”