Τhe Boundaries of My Place Are the Boundaries of My World: Gamified Historical Literacy and The Ecology of Didactic Media for Local History Schooling

Abstract Book of the 10th World Conference on Future of Education

Year: 2026

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Τhe Boundaries of My Place Are the Boundaries of My World: Gamified Historical Literacy and The Ecology of Didactic Media for Local History Schooling

Maria Zafeiriou

ABSTRACT:

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to structure the gap in the schooling of local history as an autonomous subject in Greek secondary education, which should not be crushed by the exclusively academic approach of the single didactic textbook; second, to highlight the power of history-themed games in indoor and outdoor education, reshaping the relationship between individual and collective memory. It is not only technology that “sought” the light of historical knowledge to transform it into commercial historical games, but history itself that calls upon schools to adapt to the new conditions of the digital age, utilizing novel sources and remembrance processes. This study is grounded in the Pedagogy of Multiliteracies in inclusive adolescent classrooms, whereby event interpretation presupposes critical analysis of the local social context and knowledge application in simulated environments of “transformed practice” through gamified historical literacy. The added value lies in restoring local history from “stepchild” of general history to an institutionally distinct secondary education subject, and in experientially engaging adolescent students with their local history through interactive play. Further studies must highlight the didactic importance of local history teaching inside and outside the classroom as integral to national and global history, because “the boundaries of my place are the boundaries of my world.”

Keywords: Locality, Temporality; Gamification; Secondary Education; Critical Learning