This mixed methods study examined fourth- and fifth-grade students' experiences in using multiple texts within a historic site environment (specifically objects, buildings, tour guide's words, labels and signs) as sources of information for historical inquiry in order to determine whether providing focused instruction about these multiple texts and intertextual reading enhances student achievement and motivation to engage with texts. Phenomenographic and survey research methodologies were employed. For the quantitative portion of the study, a quasi-experimental design was used to investigate the effects of instruction about multiple historic site texts on the students' conceptual development and abilities to use these texts for historical inquiry. Students from two fourth-grade and two fifth-grade classrooms participating in a visit to a local historic site were assigned to one of two groups: an instruction group, in which students took part in focused classroom instruction about the multitextual historic site environment and a historic site field trip, or a non-instruction group, in which students took a field trip to the same site but did not receive the classroom instruction. Pre- and post-visit questionnaires were administered that assessed participants' concepts of the multitextual historic site environment, knowledge of source use, and motivation to engage with sources (including value and perceived ability). For the qualitative portion of the study, transcripts from the instruction group's classroom discussions and written artifacts from two participant source use activities completed by all students were examined using systematic content analysis methods. Intertextual reading models exhibited in the participants' source use activities were assessed and categorized. In both portions of the study, analyses focused on describing the character of students' concepts of historic site sources and on comparing group and grade level differences in students' knowledge of source use, motivation, critical use of sources in the activities, and the intertextual reading models exhibited in the source use activities. The results of this study showed that the participants' abilities to use historic site sources were related to their conceptual understandings of sources, participation in the focused instruction, and grade level. The importance of scaffolding and pre-visit preparation for making a difference in the students' conceptual development and skills improvement was demonstrated. Overall, students showed significant improvements in their understandings of the use of historical sources for historical inquiry and a shift toward thinking like historians. Classroom and historic site educators may use this information as a basis for assessing students' conceptual understandings historic site texts and for designing effective learning experiences for fourth- and fifth-grade students. New theorizations based on the findings in the areas of intertextual reading and historical source terminology are presented.
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