India, March 22 -- In an out-of-the-box endeavour to infuse life into history lessons in classrooms, teachers were urged to role-play with inanimate objects from history and taught to engage students in a dialogue. Educators were asked to hold up objects such as an ancient pot, a sword or other artifacts and pose a question "Who am I?" to their students who would interview the "objects", asking questions about their origin, significance, and history. By learning to respond in character, the teachers understood how students can learn about history in an engaging and interactive way, their imagination stoked through inquiry and storytelling.

At a time when history and historical figures are in the spotlight, 35 teachers from 20 rural schoo...