article accepted yes Olaf Hartung author 794510009-0007-8673-250X Fabian Grauthoff author 79742 6 department 444 department „Die Zeichen der Zeiten deuten lernen“ (Zeidel) – Kultursemiotisch perspektiviertes Deutungslernen in einer kontroversen Geschichtskultur empirisch erforschen project This article asks how students interpret objectivations of historical culture and how far data collection settings pre-structure observable interpretive action. Drawing on cultural semiotics, historical culture is conceptualised as a sign system where meaning emerges relationally between sign-carriers and recipients’ reference concepts; the research setting is treated as part of the semiosis under study. Using the documentary method, group discussions with students from various school types are analysed in two settings: sequential discussions of three objectivations (Hermann Monument, Maurizio Cattelan's sculpture Him (2001), TikTok search results) and of ten photographic icons, varied through wildcards, reasoned selection and Instagram comments. Four groups serve as illustrative cases. Across groups, a shared sequence of interpretive operations emerges (activating knowledge, naming, contextualising, interpreting elements, evaluating morally), whose depth and reflexivity differ. The article contributes a semiotic vocabulary for students’ participation in historical culture and proposes deliberate variation of elicitation settings as a heuristic data source. All findings are exploratory hypotheses. 2027 eng Historical culturehistory educationcultural semioticsempirical learning researchdocumentary method 3042-478X 41 Hartung, Olaf, and Fabian Grauthoff. “Students Interpret Historical Culture: Insights from Two Data Collection Settings in an Exploratory Design.” <i>Historisches Denken, Kultur Und Bildung (HTCE)</i> 4, no. 1 (n.d.). @article{Hartung_Grauthoff, title={Students interpret historical culture: Insights from two data collection settings in an exploratory design}, volume={4}, number={1}, journal={Historisches Denken, Kultur und Bildung (HTCE)}, author={Hartung, Olaf and Grauthoff, Fabian} } Hartung O, Grauthoff F. Students interpret historical culture: Insights from two data collection settings in an exploratory design. <i>Historisches Denken, Kultur und Bildung (HTCE)</i>. 4(1). Hartung, O., &#38; Grauthoff, F. (n.d.). Students interpret historical culture: Insights from two data collection settings in an exploratory design. <i>Historisches Denken, Kultur Und Bildung (HTCE)</i>, <i>4</i>(1). O. Hartung, F. Grauthoff, Historisches Denken, Kultur Und Bildung (HTCE) 4 (n.d.). O. Hartung and F. Grauthoff, “Students interpret historical culture: Insights from two data collection settings in an exploratory design,” <i>Historisches Denken, Kultur und Bildung (HTCE)</i>, vol. 4, no. 1. Hartung, Olaf, and Fabian Grauthoff. “Students Interpret Historical Culture: Insights from Two Data Collection Settings in an Exploratory Design.” <i>Historisches Denken, Kultur Und Bildung (HTCE)</i>, vol. 4, no. 1. 676642026-10-27T09:41:40Z2026-10-27T09:51:33Z