Popular interest in history is peaking like perhaps never before in the 21st century. Films such as Spartan gore-fest 300 have proven big hits at the box office in recent years, and many more ancient world movies - including Centurion, Clash of the Titans and Valhalla Rising - are set to arrive in 2010. TV historians such as Simon Schama and David Starkey are household names. Dan Brown's Lost Symbol dominated the fiction chart in the past year and all of the novels shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2009 were set against historical backdrops, with the winner - Hilary Mantel's Tudor England-based Wolf Hall - proving the most popular Booker prize winner of all time. The past most definitely sells. Yet, for some reason, interest in history as a subject of study is dwindling among young learners - in England pupils taking history at GCSE level has dropped as low as one in three. Some voices argue that we need to do a better job of firing youngsters' imaginations when it comes to teaching history, by using learning tools that excite as well as enlighten - in other words making better use of edutainment, as it's known. Can historical fiction - in the form of novels, plays, films or even video games - pass as education when it comes to teaching history? Or are the old fashioned ways still the best? We asked a number of commentators, and their responses were consistent: with caveats, there's undoubtedly a place for entertainment in modern learning, as a means of channelling youngsters into the streams of traditional education.
TV historians such as Simon Schama and David Starkey are household names. Dan Brown's Lost Symbol dominated the fiction chart in the past year and all of the novels shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2009 were set against historical backdrops, with the winner - Hilary Mantel's Tudor England-based Wolf Hall - proving the most popular Booker prize winner of all time.
The past most definitely sells. Yet, for some reason, interest in history as a subject of study is dwindling among young learners - in England pupils taking history at GCSE level has dropped as low as one in three. Some voices argue that we need to do a better job of firing youngsters' imaginations when it comes to teaching history, by using learning tools that excite as well as enlighten - in other words making better use of edutainment, as it's known.
Can historical fiction - in the form of novels, plays, films or even video games - pass as education when it comes to teaching history? Or are the old fashioned ways still the best? We asked a number of commentators, and their responses were consistent: with caveats, there's undoubtedly a place for entertainment in modern learning, as a means of channelling youngsters into the streams of traditional education.
