Articles | “Reading Instruments”: History of Science meets OBTL | Katharine Anderson et al. • Roland Wittje | 2010 • 2011
Nina El Laban-Devauton
11 diciembre, 2025
Reflecting on a week-long workshop about historical artefacts, the articles of Anderson et al. and Wittje make a compelling case for Object-Based Teaching and Learning (OBTL) in academic contexts. Both articles – one in English, the other in German – meticulously describe how a single object can be brought to tell its narrative and how engagement with such objects enhances the understanding of the history of science, medicine and technology.
The workshop took place at the Canada Museum of Science and Technology (CMST) in Ottawa during the summer of 2009. It brought together participants from diverse academic backgrounds and professional fields, including curators, librarians, historians engaged in the historical reconstruction of instruments, and historians working with teaching collections. The workshop aimed to explore the value of OBTL for practitioners in the history of science. Each sub-group focused on a single object throughout the workshop duration.
These articles provide not only detailed practical steps applicable to other disciplines but also consider how OBTL contributes to a deeper understanding of the history of science.
Link to sources
Anderson, Katharine/Frappier, Mélanie/Neswald, Elizabeth/Trim, Henry. “Reading Instruments: Objects, Texts and Museums” in Science & Education (22, May 2013), pp. 1167-1189. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-011-9391-y
Wittje, Roland. “Reading Artifacts: Historische Sammlungen und innovative Konzepte in der Lehre [Reading Artifacts: Historical Collections and Innovative Concepts in Teaching]” in Weber, C. and Mauersberger, K. (eds.) Universitätsmuseen und -sammlungen im Hochschulalltag: Aufgaben – Konzepte – Perspektiven, Berlin: Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik, (2010), pp. 79-86. https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/server/api/core/bitstreams/4cfb8a3b-4221-407f-93fe-ea4ab6be950f/content