Valuing the family narrative of elementary school students to introduce them to history writing: The “Share the Story” project
This article, presented in the form of an experiential narrative, reports on a project being conducted in a multi-age class of 26 students in a Montessori elementary school. The project consists of the students conducting an interview with an elderly family member and writing a narrative. First, we describe the place of oral history in the social science program at the elementary level. Second, we outline the theoretical framework that guides our research, which relates to the relevance and modalities of oral history in social science education, as well as the distinctions between life stories and historical narratives. In the third part, we report on the progress of the project and the first results. They concern the possible contributions of this type of approach to motivation and learning in social sciences.