Experimental History

If you think you're going to get away from your science teacher in a history class, you're very wrong!  You can apply the scientific method to a history class!  You can see from shows like Secrets of the Castle, Edwardian Farm, Victorian Farm, and Tudor Monastery Farm that there is a science to what they're doing, even though they are living in a historic era.  I would call it this type of history, Experimental History. 

So the scientific method is this:

1. Make an observation.
2. Ask a question.
3. Form a hypothesis, or testable explanation.
4. Make a prediction based on the hypothesis.
5. Test the prediction.
6. Iterate: use the results to make new hypotheses or predictions

So how does that fit into a history class?

1. Make an observation: You do this by looking at the available documents and materials that survived or are currently known.  I know through technology that new documents are being uncovered and that these new documents are digitized to become available for everyone.
2. Ask a question: This is straight forward, based on the documents you read, you start asking questions.
   
3. Form a hypothesis, or testable explanation: Then you reform your question or try to come up with an explanation. 
   
4. Make a prediction based on the hypothesis:  You make a prediction on what materials that are available.
5. Test the prediction: Do more research or create an experiment. Look at Guedelon Castle, that experiment began with the question "how do you build a castle?"  Over the years the castle builders have been able to refine their building techniques.
   
6. Iterate: use the results to make new hypotheses or predictions: here you draw conclusions based on your research and document them.

Check out this Episode of A Stitch in Time on YouTube and observe how the scientific method is applied to designing and creating a historic outfit.  Even historic costumers apply the scientific method to their work when they create costumes for a TV show or play.

If at the start of the year, there needs to be a sub in a science classroom and your class is learning about the scientific method, consider showing Secrets of the Castle for a lesson in the scientific method!  You can put these questions on a worksheet and the students can answer the questions.

Scientific Method - Experimental History Style
Secrets of the Castle Questions:

1. How do they observe a historic event?
   
2. What question were the historians asking?
   
3. What was the hypothesis they created?
4. What predictions could they make based on their hypothesis?
5. How do they test their predictions?
6. How do they present their results or draw their conclusions?