Boldly going where no one has gone before…

In light of Matt Might‘s Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D., I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to push that circle out just a little bit farther in history education. Right now, lots of wonderful people are doing work in my areas of interest, like:

History Education
1. How to teach history
2. How to learn history
3. How the brain understands/constructs historical knowledge, thinks historically
4. History education as an object (of critique, of praise, etc.)
5. Lesson plans

History Education Technology
1. Creating new tools
2. Using existing tools
3. Creating new resources
4. Using existing resources

(Of course, this list is incomplete, but you get the idea.)

How do I either 1) push the boundary of the circle in one of the above areas or 2) explore an area not even listed above or conceived by those much more well-versed in this area than I? Most research (in any area) falls under the category of “expands upon or elaborates on existing knowledge/theory.” Chances are, that’s what I’ll be doing in grad school.  Nevertheless, what areas lie just outside of our reach in history education and history education technology? And, more importantly, how do we get to the place that will allow us to explore those unknown lands?  I don’t know yet, but I’ll keep pushing.

Thanks, Matt.