Digital games in history teaching : History teachers give their views on how to implement digital history games in teaching

This study intends to examine on how teachers relate to digital games as a teaching method in the subject of history. In the study, five history teachers were interviewed with the aim of getting answers on the extent to which history teachers use digital games, what opportunities and difficulties they see with digital games in history teaching and whether one can benefit from digital games to increase students' history awareness. According to the results, there are many similarities with the previous research, especially when it comes to disadvantages. The respondents mainly mention the lack of time and knowledge about digital games. Just like research, they mention that larger commercial games are not adapted to be implemented in history teaching but are created as leisure activities and for entertainment. Smaller digital games such as Kahoot are used today with the argument that they are easier and do not need very long planning time. However, there are exceptions in the informants' answers, where a history teacher has used the commercial game Assasins´s Creed, but not for the purpose of the students playing the game. Instead, the teacher has used the game because of its richness of detail, as the teacher believes that this story game is in many cases a better contrast to reality than most documentaries and feature films. It also, according to this respondent, creates a clearer historical awareness among the students. The interviewees all agreed that if a history game is to be applied in today's history teaching, a certified material is required, as well as game-developers who create history games linked to the national curriculum