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Many of the tools digital humanists use have come from a variety of disciplines outside of history. As a consequence, many digital-history methods sections focus on how a tool developed by non-historians might support, or need to be adapted for, particular historical questions. Few digital tools have been developed by and for historians with a specific eye to the methodological and theoretical explorations of design principles that are necessary to anchor digital-history-specific tool development in historiographic practices. This article introduces Design-Based History Research (DBHR) as a methodological bridge between the practices of digital-history tool design, the use of digital methods to create historical argumentation, and social-science-inspired methodological innovation. Design-Based Research (DBR) is an educational-research approach to studying learning theory that supports theory building by integrating theory into the design of new tools and environments, in a manner that allows the designers to rigorously study the theory, and the relationship between the theory and the tools that embody it (Puntambekar 2018; Sandoval 2013). In practice, this means that DBR focused on software design incorporates theoretically motivated decisions about user interface features, user activities, and data-structure choices into an initial tool/software-package design and then studies the design package in use as a way of iteratively refining the theoretical principles in each of the tool’s design phases. DBHR is an adaptation of the DBR approach, with a theoretical approach grounded in the unique needs of historians and historiographic practices. We aim to illustrate DBHR by describing the design and use of Net.Create, a user-focused network-analysis tool that prioritizes historiographic practices (evidence interpretation, citation preservation, and historiographic debate) in its feature development and user-interface choices (Craig & Danish 2018). We document how the needs of digital historians shaped the current design of Net.Create, explore the connections between specific tool features and their operation, and delineate how those tool features support the digital-history needs we identified. As part of this iterative-design process, we will also address some of the human-computer-interaction observations, user-entered network data, and qualitative-network-analysis approaches that shaped each stage of our feature development around digital history practices. Our DBHR process ultimately led us to prioritize the development of three features that support and encourage sustained historiographic debate at each phase of a network-analysis digital-history project: 1. simultaneous entry and visualization of capta, data that is gathered and contested rather than downloaded or received, in order to support and encourage historiographic debate during the data-gathering phase and prior to a formal analysis phase 2. easy-to-use revision of network taxonomy and network data, to support interpretation, reinterpretation and re-input of evidence and data by many collaborators simultaneously, synchronously or asynchronously, during the initial analysis phase 3. data provenance features that expose the researchers’ positionality and preserve the original citations for each network datapoint, to support the integration of close-reading analytical practices both by the research team and by other historians after the communication of results to a public audience By documenting the historiographic roots of each of these features, we hope to offer a systematic articulation of digital history tool design not simply as software development but as a pathway to the concurrent and intertwined development of historical theory, digital-history tools, and collaborative historical methods. 

This design case explores how an AI-supported, narrative-centered science learning game (SciStory: Pollinators) was designed over multiple iterations to support middle schoolers’ socioscientific learning, engagement, and persuasive writing. The case highlights how AI-driven conversational agents were designed to support student-led socioscientific inquiry, and the tensions our team explored as we integrated agents into a story game about community food systems, pollinators, and neighborhood land use. 

In this paper, we propose situating data literacy within a humanities framework as a complementary method in data literacy education, using network visualization as a tool. As data becomes increasingly essential in understanding our world, there is a growing need for a multidisciplinary approach to data literacy. We argue that network visualization techniques can foster deeper engagement with data's complexities in certain contexts. We explore various definitions and frameworks of data literacy, emphasizing context, critical thinking, and holistic understanding, and highlight network visualization as a tool to explore data within a humanistic framework. By using networks, students can develop a critical and contextual understanding of data, preparing them to navigate the complexities of our data-driven society more effectively. 

Centering students’ Funds of Identity (FOI) in the classroom is important for moving towards asset-based frameworks for learning. However, it can be challenging to identify the FOI of an entire class and use those FOI to design instruction. Motivated by this challenge, we explore how network visualizations in which students create a network that displays connections between themselves and classroom content can simultaneously elicit and connect students’ FOI to instruction. We conducted this work with five middle school World History classes taught by a single teacher, who built a collective network visualization about Greek Mythology. Using an iterative process of analytic memoing, coding, and content analysis, we identified three ways in which the network visualization activity connected to students’ identities: 1) they could share about themselves (particularly personality descriptions and practical FOI); 2) they could connect to content from their history class; and 3) they could connect to their peers. 

To provide students with opportunities to develop data and network literacy in K-12 learning, we aim to understand how to support teachers in their design and implementation of network visualization lessons. This study examines teacher reflections on the enactment of network visualization lessons in middle school humanities classrooms, a relatively nascent field. Teacher adoption of new practices like network visualization requires changes in knowledge and attitudes that are influenced by and have influence on teachers’ implementation of these new strategies. We used Clarke and Hollingsworth’s Interconnected Model of Professional Growth (2002) to identify shifts in teachers’ knowledge and attitudes when implementing these lessons. We found student social and cognitive engagement salient for teachers, impacting their changes in beliefs about network visualizations in the humanities. Findings indicate professional development for network visualization in the humanities should be designed with a focus on student connections and interests as well as curricular alignment. 

This study examines the methodological challenges of coding student identity within classroom activities using the Funds of Identity (FoI) framework. Analyzing eighth-grade students’ engagement in a network visualization activity, we explored distinctions between expressions of interest and identity. Results highlight complexities in interpreting student participants’ identity within brief classroom interactions, offering nuances in categorizing student contributions and prompting refinements in coding practices. 

This study designs a combination of physical and digital visualization of data. We analyzed eighth-grade students’ reflections on those visualizations and participation. This study highlights the value of combining and contrasting physical and digital visualizations of data to help students recognize the unique affordances of each to learn historical concepts and appreciate the benefits of using them in a complementary way. 

This study examines researcher-practitioner collaborations in educational research, using Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) to analyze interactions between STEM coaches and researchers. It explores a two-day workshop focused on practitioner-identified challenges. The research highlighted the need to shift from researcher-centric approaches to balanced, collaborative methods. This study provides insights for developing bidirectional learning models that center practitioners' perspectives, aiming to bridge the gap between research and educational practice through more equitable and transformative partnerships. 

This study explored how researcher–coach dyads collaborated to create research-based briefs for classroom use. Data from a two-day workshop and dyads’ final products were analyzed using interaction analysis. The dyad’s work illuminated how products and relationships evolved together, fostering ownership and collaboration. These findings inform future researcher–practitioner partnerships and guide facilitation of effective collaborations by highlighting relationship building, agency, and ownership to shape joint work.