David Frederik HÖLSCHER
(Institute of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology at Kiel University, Kiel, Germany)

Keywords: science communication, didactic research, environmental archaeology, social archaeology, gamification

Abstract:
Archaeological topics and research are brought to the public’s attention by many formats. Among the most important are exhibitions and educational programmes in museums as well as radio and television broadcasts. In the course of rapid technological development, especially in the digital sector, multimedia formats have also been included in informal learning settings. Yet the actual didactic benefits of these formats are rarely evaluated. The goals of the PhD project “Knowledge transfer in archaeology. A study on the communication of current research content through multimedia learning environments” (working-title) are twofold: On the one hand, it aims at communicating historical dimensions of human-environment-interactions and social development to the public. In order to achieve this, a multimedia learning environment related to research in landscape and social archaeology at Kiel University will be developed. On the other hand, the learning process will be studied from a didactic perspective in order to investigate the learning outcome of this specific educational programme.
The multimedia tool will utilise advantages of informal learning environments such as explorative, self-steered and experience-based learning, as well as their technical support, e.g. through digital “gamification”.
The project combines a practical educational opportunity in Archaeology, didactic theory and didactic research in a way currently unique in the discipline.
The project started in January 2018 and is embedded in the Kiel Science Outreach Campus (KiSOC), which was formed as joint project of Kiel University and the Leipniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education.

Relevance for the conference: One aim of the project is to produce a multimedia tool for the communication of archaeological content with an on-site approach.
Innovation: The projects approaches the communication of archaeology on basis of didactic theories and combines it with didactical research on learning outcomes.
References:
• L.R. Andersen/T. Møbjerg, “Digital Threads across the Landscape” –a smartphone application co-developed by users. Archäologische Informationen 36 (2013) 45–53.
• H. Düselder/A. Schmitt (Hrsg.) Umweltgeschichte: Forschung und Vermittlung in Universität, Museum und Schule (Köln [u.a.] 2014).