History Education for Early Learners

I grew up in a household where pop quizzes about Sir John A Macdonald were not uncommon, and my Grandma wore a t-shirt that said "Give Us Back Our Dominion Day." In my family it was never ever too early to be learning about History.

But the subject of early history education was recently raised in this Globe and Mail article about Calgary's Military Museums and its programs for preschool and primary school-aged children. The Museum has developed a program around safety - helmets and head-protection in particular - that also subtly begins an awareness of Canada's role in conflict and peacekeeping.

That particular program, "Travels with Tommy", is just one of many programs the museum offers for younger students (full school programs selection here). Among the museums other programs for the K-3 crowd are "A Good Question" (learning about conflict resolution) and "Boats, Bells, and Banners" (using bells, lights and more to learn about life in the navy.)

The Calgary Museum isn't the only one - the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto) has an "Early Settlers of Canada" program geared directly to the Grade 3 curriculum, and a "Prehistoric Pals" dinosaur program for the Kindergarteners. And while the Maritime Museum in Halifax begins its school programming at the 4th Grade, they have "Family Sundays" every month geared to the younger crowd.

Norman Leach, Canadian Military Historian, commented to the Globe “The museum has created a way to teach kids in a way that doesn’t glorify war, but makes it real, makes it touchable."

Programs like these also help promote early historical thinking and skills development. The program teaches children to make tangible connections between history (here, helmets) and their prior knowledge and experiences (bike helmets). If they start that early, they'll be critically thinking in no time - I'd love to know if any student has suggested the helmet could be used as a bowl yet!