Linie 4: History in the Lab

Photo: Dr. Marina Böddeker

Chat GPT, fake news and deep fakes: the internet is full of questionable and unsafe "sources". The ability to navigate through the overabundance of information is something you learn and improve at school. An exciting and challenging opportunity to train these skills is the so-called student lab. This institution creates workshops for young people to experience and understand historical research in a comprehensible and approachable way. The focus is on dealing critically with material: How do historians conduct research? Does it have anything to do with the present? How can I form an opinion on a topic and express it?

In the public lecture series Linie 4, which is organized by BGHS together with the vhs Bielefeld, Vanessa Neumann will discuss the pupils’ lab and its implementation at Bielefeld University. During the lecture, an insight will be given into the materials and ideas of the workshops: topics such as the Sparrenburg in Bielefeld, the Denazification from the American perspective, and the scope of human rights are explored in a multi-faceted, challenging and exciting way by scientists and pupils in the pupils’ lab.

In her lecture entitled ‘Working in the history lab: school meets science!’ in the public lecture series Linie 4, which the BGHS organises together with the vhs Bielefeld, Vanessa Neumann will focus on the school lab and its concrete implementation at Bielefeld University. She will provide insights into the materials and ideas of the workshops that have taken place so far as part of the pupils’ lab. They included topics such as denazification from an American perspective, cultures of remembrance using the example of Columbus Day and the scope of human rights, which are dealt with in a multi-faceted, challenging and exciting way by scholars and pupils in the pupils’ lab.

Vanessa Neumann studied biology, history and educational science in Bielefeld. In 2020, she successfully completed her second state examination for teaching. Since 2021, she has been a research assistant in the SFB 1288 Practices of Comparison and is doing her doctorate on the topic "Humanities in the laboratory? The effects of a visit to the student laboratory on the self-efficacy expectations of pupils and doctoral students". The pupils’ lab is planned, implemented and evaluated as part of the Collaborative Research Centre 1288 Practices of Comparing. Ordering and Changing of the World. For further information, please click here.

The lecture will take place on Monday, 13 May 2024 at 6.15 pm in room 240 at the vhs Biele-feld, Ravensberger Park 1. The event will be held in German.

Here you can find information about Linie 4 and the lectures in the series.