In this study I consider the marginalization of social studies in elementary education, as well as the benefits of participating in museum experiences to enhance history learning and skill development (i.e. historical thinking skills). What is the potential for elementary students in using historical thinking skills to "do history" in the ways that historians might? And how might these students engage in a history museum setting that lasts longer than one day? To address these issues I followed third-grade students and their teacher to a state history museum for an immersion museum experience--The BIG History Lesson. For five consecutive school days, I observed these third-grade students participating in hands-on activities, docent- and historian-led presentations, and free-choice explorations. I also studied the students' use of historical thinking skills (sourcing, contextualizing, inferring, and corroborating) throughout the museum week. Additionally, I conducted pre- and post-interviews with focal students of varying academic abilities, and engaged them in pre- and post-historical thinking activities. The results of these observations, interviews, and historical thinking activities suggest that these third-grade students could use historical thinking skills to varying degrees, provided there was explicit modeling and multiple opportunities to do so. Students' skill usage at the museum and during the historical thinking activities was similar, although their skills during the activities were more frequently applied and more finely-tuned. My findings highlight the importance of scaffolding and modeling to foster young students' development of historical thinking skills (and helping them know when to employ the skills). Students' sporadic use of historical thinking skills at the museum suggested that although they were in a more "authentic" and immersing environment to learn and be exposed to history, they needed explicit scaffolding and guidance for how and when to use these skills in generative ways.
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