Historic places play an integral role in remembering our past and enabling students to gain insights into history, architecture, archaeology and culture.
History trips can help students develop critical thinking and patriotism skills, and visiting historical locations allows students to experience experiential and outdoor learning first-hand.
1. A sense of nostalgia and familiarity
Visits to historical places can help provide you with a deeper understanding of history and other cultures, while simultaneously helping you develop new skills and knowledge. It is also essential that we learn about different traditions and customs so as to appreciate cultural heritage.
History can serve as an avenue to become better and make a positive change in the world. When we feel helpless and that change seems unlikely, looking back at past stories of success may offer hope and boost motivation to do just that.
Studies have demonstrated that nostalgia can be triggered by numerous things, from musical instruments and landscapes to historic monuments and heritage tourism sites. A visit to Independence Hall or the Statue of Liberty can evoke vicarious nostalgia – longings for traditional, conservative or community values from bygone eras that are yearnings for traditionalism or conservatism.
2. Learning about history from firsthand sources
Historical places are important because they offer direct connections to the past and help people understand its culture and history, while simultaneously encouraging tourism. Many historical buildings or landmarks can be associated with significant events, people or architectural styles that shaped history – which makes them vital parts of our collective memory.
Historic places provide students with a valuable opportunity to gain first-hand insight into history – something many textbooks cannot match. Furthermore, historic places give students insight into multiple cultural perspectives.
Tourism and economic development can also benefit from historic landmarks. Tourists from around the globe visit these historic locations, contributing money back into the economy – that money goes back into preserving these sites and creating jobs.
3. Experiential learning
Visits to historic places can offer students an unforgettable learning experience and help them more readily connect theoretical concepts to practical applications.
This teaching strategy also encourages students to flex their creative muscles and come up with innovative solutions. Furthermore, it can help them learn about their own strengths and weaknesses so that they are better prepared for future challenges.
Experiential learning encourages participants to see mistakes as invaluable learning experiences, rather than perceived as failures. This approach helps them build greater resilience and work more closely together with their colleagues.
At UC Davis, experiential learning is defined as “a student-centred pedagogy in which instructors facilitate rather than direct the learning process.” It involves stages such as experiencing (doing), reflecting upon and applying.
4. Outdoor learning
Historical sites offer experiences for experiential learning that cannot be replicated in a classroom setting. Standing inside an ancient archaeological site or walking through its grounds gives students an interactive history lesson impossible to achieve through textbooks alone, leading them to fully engage with and comprehend a topic with greater ease and creating deeper understanding of that matter.
Integrating local historical places into courses should include connections between them and major historical trends, in order to help students grasp the significance of locations as well as their effects on those living nearby. This will allow them to understand why certain events happened and their repercussions for those who live there.
Outdoor learning provides immense advantages, but educators must also be ready for its unique set of challenges. A series of 20 articles published by researchers discovered that some teachers were reluctant to utilize this form of education due to concerns over safety (McClintic and Petty 2015) or time required in setting up activities outside (Tuuling Oun and Ugaste 2019). We must encourage educators to explore and learn outside.
5. Tourism and economic growth
Tourism can contribute significantly to national economic development in several ways. Tourism jobs can stimulate employment growth while encouraging investment – particularly in economically depressed regions – while supporting conservation initiatives and increasing tax revenue are other positive results of tourism’s impact on the nation’s economic wellbeing.
Historical sites can play an essential role in protecting cultural heritage and upholding traditional practices, like Salvador Dali’s house museum in Portlligat or Freud’s museum houses. Tourist entrance fees may help fund upkeep costs at historical places while museum collections often showcase objects that belonged to prominent people with an impactful legacy, like Salvador Dali in Portlligat or Freud in Freud’s museum houses).
Research demonstrates a positive link between economic growth and tourism expenditure; however, it must be remembered that this relationship works both ways.
