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Historical Empathy in the Social Studies Classroom: A Review of the Literature
Abstract
In the field of history education, researchers and practitioners frequently demonstrate a keen interest in historical empathy. However, very little consensus exists concerning the meaning of the term. In an effort to make sense of the continuing debate, this article explores the competing conceptualizations of historical empathy found in the history education literature of the past decade. Discussion of recent theoretical work is coupled with a review of the numerous empirical studies, which have sought to shed light on the various factors that impact students' development of historical empathy. This article examines the answers that have been posited to the following questions and, in so doing, reveals where further research is needed: What capacity do K-12 students possess for historical empathy? What obstacles hinder them from demonstrating empathetic regard? What pedagogical practices promote the development of empathy? How do teachers navigate the decisions they face as they seek to cultivate empathy in their classrooms?
... Historisk empati skiller seg fra dagligtalens intuitive forståelse av empati som innlevelse eller sympati og er et komplekst begrep i forskningslitteraturen. Brooks (2009) (Endacott & Brooks, 2018;Wilschut & Schiphorst, 2019). Dette kan gjøre det vanskelig å sammenligne forskning, og resultatet kan bli «a somewhat disjointed conversation» der forskningsbidragene ikke i tilstrekkelig grad bygger på hverandre (Brooks, 2009, s. 228 Thomas og Harden (2008) argumenterer for at det er viktig å analysere og syntetisere kvalitativ forskning. ...
... Først må det presiseres at det finnes enighet på tvers av forskningslitteraturen på et overordnet plan: Historisk empati handler om å forstå en historisk aktørs perspektiv i denne personens kontekst, og 'å gå i den andres sko' er en metafor som er brukt (eksempler er Davison, 2012;Harris & Foreman-Peck, 2004;Rantala et al., 2016). Brooks (2009) & Fallace, 2011;Perikleous, 2014;Rantala et al., 2016;Wilschut & Schiphorst, 2019). Andre mener at den affektive dimensjonen er viktigst, selv om disse presiserer at også en kognitiv dimensjon må inkluderes (Hillman, 2015;Morgan, 2015;Seng & Wei, 2010 (Nolgård & Nygren, 2019, s. 15;Nygren, 2016, s. 128). ...
... I tillegg er det viktig å avklare hva man snakker om når man bruker begrepet historisk empati. I tidligere forskning er det blant annet brukt «ability», «achievement» og «capacity» (Brooks, 2009) og «skill» (Bartelds et al., 2020) om historisk empati. I tillegg har det blitt diskutert om det skal beskrives som en prosess eller noe man oppnår (Endacott & Brooks, 2018, s. 204 Ifølge Brooks (2009) viste empirisk forskning at elever i hele skoleløpet kan ha utbytte av oppgaver som er ment å fremme historisk empati. ...
... Although the definition of historical empathy remains controversial (Brooks, 2009;Rantala et al., 2016;Retz, 2018), its potential to positively impact students' citizenship and support their critical thinking competencies has been largely acknowledged (Barton and Levstik, 2009;Brooks, 2009;Davison, 2013;Kohlmeier, 2006;Perikleous, 2014). ...
... Although the definition of historical empathy remains controversial (Brooks, 2009;Rantala et al., 2016;Retz, 2018), its potential to positively impact students' citizenship and support their critical thinking competencies has been largely acknowledged (Barton and Levstik, 2009;Brooks, 2009;Davison, 2013;Kohlmeier, 2006;Perikleous, 2014). ...
... However, the nature of historical empathy and what it involves, or should involve, is still highly disputed (Brooks, 2009;Marcus et al., 2010;Rantala et al., 2016;Retz, 2018;Wilschut and Schiphorst, 2019;Yilmaz, 2007). Most scholars confirm that historical empathy is not a matter of sympathising with, excusing or avoiding issues from the past. ...
We have studied how eliciting historical empathy in a class of 13th grade students through using the film 12 Years a Slave (McQueen, 2013) supported their in-depth understanding of slavery in nineteenth-century USA. Historical empathy is one of the core elements of the new curricular reform implemented from 2020 in Norway, and it is believed to have potential to strengthen: (1) students’ future citizenship and participation in democratic and multicultural societies; and (2) students’ in-depth understanding of history. We implemented a five-week lesson plan with different activities based around the film, and used students’ assignments to evaluate their feelings about the lessons and their historical understanding of slavery. The results confirmed the potential of film to enhance historical empathy when the screening is well prepared and combined with relevant activities. Students demonstrated a high level of engagement and managed to perform complex tasks. Both their ability to contextualise and to ‘care’ improved. Particularly, students’ historical understanding of slavery was boosted by the group conversations and the dialogic nature of the activities in the classroom. In addition, we observed a greater positive influence on boys’ achievements compared with girls’ – a finding which is interesting in a wider educational context and which needs further exploration.
... Although there is no unanimity among researchers as to the definition and the elements that constitute empathy, there are three distinct strands which emerge in most empirical studies [13,16,17]. These are empathic resonance, empathic reasoning and empathic response. ...
... In this case, the teacher's initiative can cover the absence of emotional intelligence programs in the curriculum. According to the majority of relevant surveys, the development of emotional skills such as empathy is more easily achieved in the early years of a child's life, specifically at the age of 6-8 years [13,17]. Of course, the formation of empathy is evolutionary and continues in older ages. ...
The fostering of empathy among primary school students is an important goal because it enhances the improvement of behavior and the development of positive social contacts. Empathy can contribute to understanding and supporting others’ needs. In most cases, empathy in young children is developed through listening to sad stories, experienced first-hand by others. In the educational scenario presented in this article, the dramatic effects of climate change were conveyed to the pupils through a message said to originate from the future, delivered by an educational robot. The message was expressed by a peer living in Iran in 2050. In addition to delivering the message, the robot called on children to prevent climate change from rapidly worsening by changing their own way of thinking and attitudes. Thus, students called upon a formulated educational problem to understand and handle through their own emotional and cognitive performance through the robot’s storytelling. This performance was intensely affected by empathy towards the Iranian peer’s difficult personal living conditions. The research focused on measuring the evidence of empathy development. Additionally, the design and implementation aspects of the robot are presented, utilizing the implemented teaching intervention as means of demonstrating the innovative nature of the robot.
... However, it is very difficult to recognize one's own focus on the present and abandon that focus for some time to look afresh at another time frame (Retz, 2015). Although too much involvement of students' own experiences can be seen as a threat to the historical plausibility of their image of the past, several scholars 'No,no,the Cold War was not that dramatic' 29 History Education Research Journal 18 (1) 2021 argue that historical empathy could contribute to students' historical imagination (for example, Brooks, 2009;Cunningham, 2009). ...
... However, when confronted with gaps in their knowledge, students have to imagine the things they do not know, using what seems reasonable from their own point of view (Barton and Levstik, 2004;Virta and Kouki, 2014). Therefore, scholars argue that these types of tasks can lead students towards misconceptions about the past, such as presentism, which is the transfer of values and information from the present to the past (Brooks, 2009;Wilschut, 2012). For the same reason, teachers can also be concerned about working with imagination tasks (Egan and Judson, 2008). ...
Imagining what it was like to live in the past may help secondary school students to understand historical developments and situations. In this case study, the opportunities of a drama task are explored by using a mixed-method approach. In small groups, Dutch 14–15-year-old students examined historical sources and produced a short film clip on daily life in the Netherlands during the Cold War. Results indicated that both the students and their teacher perceived the drama task as motivating. The group discussions were rich in on-task utterances, and the students reported that they thought the task was valuable for gaining insight into thoughts and feelings of people in the past. However, the clips were relatively poor in information, and the assessment proved to be a challenge for the teacher.
... In this article, the authors describe an inquiry designed to employ historical empathy as an analytical tool to assess the past, bridging history to civic concerns [1]. Though many definitions of historical empathy abound (Brooks, 2009), we draw upon Endacott and Brooks' (2013) definition and Endacott's (2014) instructional model for promoting historical empathy. After constructing historical arguments based on the inquiry, students can apply their learning to modern questions of US geopolitics. ...
... Likewise, historical empathy is a useful lens for assessing difficult history where questions of the past mirror current controversial issues (Gross and Terra, 2018). By demystifying actions in history, students can develop their self-awareness and better distinguish how their own actions are impacted by social contexts (Brooks, 2009;VanSledright, 2001). The utility of historical empathy to meaningfully connect the past and present through rigorous historical processes makes it a worthy angle for constructing a historical inquiry. ...
Purpose
This work explores the creation and purposes of an inquiry about Emilio Aguinaldo, a Filipino revolutionary and sometimes United States ally, as a means to discuss the value of both inquiry and historical empathy in bridging history instruction and civic life. Though history is often identified as a means to foster democratic dispositions, learning can often feel disconnected from students' lived experiences, let alone directly connect to their out-of-classroom circumstances. Teaching with historical empathy allows students to affectively engage with content, resulting in complex reasoning and content acquisition.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors explain an original inquiry that uses the Inquiry Design Model (IDM) and historical empathy to help students complicate Emilio Aguinaldo and his legacy. By combining historical empathy and the inquiry model, the authors structured their work for practitioner use but also as a way to draw on rarely emphasized content in US or World history courses.
Findings
In using this model, students will be able to apply their learning in a civic engagement task related to modern questions of US geopolitics.
Originality/value
The authors offer and explore the process of an original inquiry as a way to help practitioners and scholars consider how to create other such rigorous opportunities for students to practice global citizenship.
... Tasks, which explicitly invite students to identify with historical actors and describe their perspectives, are a common phenomenon in many history textbooks, at least in the Netherlands. Such personal recount tasks are often considered to stimulate students' historical imagination and historical empathy by asking them to compose narratives about real people and situations, thus creating a more lively and understandable image of the past (Brooks, 2009;Cunningham, 2009). Narratives about and images of concrete historical actors help students understand historical developments and situations, which are often somewhat abstract (Lee, 1984;Prangsma et al., 2008). ...
... However, more than the professional historian, students have to fill in the gaps in their knowledge using information-elements that seem reasonable from their own (present) point of view (Barton and Levstik, 2004;Kahneman, 2011;Virta and Kouki, 2014). Therefore, using imagination is believed to possibly lead students to 'presentism', the transfer of context from the present to the past (Brooks, 2009;Huijgen et al., 2014;Wilschut, 2012), and hence teachers are cautious about engaging in tasks that stimulate students' imagination (Egan and Judson, 2008). ...
Tasks which invite students to identify with historical actors and describe their perspectives are a common phenomenon in history education. The aim of this study is to explore the differences in students’ answers when completing a writing task in first person (‘imagine you are in the past’) or in third person (‘imagine someone in the past’), or a task in which such imagination is not explicitly asked. Furthermore we investigated the effects of the type of task on topic knowledge and situational interest. Students in Dutch secondary education (N = 254) participated by completing a task on the Dutch Iconoclasm. Our analysis of student answers focused on aspects of historical empathy: historical contextualization, affective elements and perspective taking.
Results were that all students gained some knowledge from the task, regardless of the type of task they completed. Students’ situational interest also did not differ between the three tasks. However, students’ written work showed that the first- and third-person writing tasks stimulated students to imagine concrete details of the past and emotions of historical actors. Students who were not explicitly asked to imagine themselves or someone in the past included more perspectives into their writings. Students who completed the task in first person tended to show more presentism and moral judgements of the past than students who completed a task in third person.
... According to these scholars, an authentic historical experience involves having students engage in historical inquiry and employ thinking skills much like a historian. As other scholars have argued, one of the most important outcomes in an inquiry-based history curriculum is historical empathy, or perspec-tive taking (Brooks, 2009;Yilmaz, 2007). But how can teachers encourage inquiry-based history instruction and foster historical empathy within the time limitations of the curriculum that continues to value math and literacy over the social studies? ...
... Doing so would insert present bias, creating a skewed idea of past events and actions. Historical empathy involves approaching history as it was experienced by those in the past (Brooks, 2009). Lee and Ashby (2001), identify historical empathy as -where we get to when we know what past agents thought, what goals they may have been seeking, and how they saw their situation, and can connect all this with what they did‖ (p. ...
This action research study explores how the multigenre research project develops historical empathy, or historical perspective taking skills, in a class of 22 fourth grade students. Much of the research in these areas focuses on the high school and university level. However, this study explored the degree to which upper elementary students were able to recognize historical perspectives, and whether the multigenre project format was conducive to developing this particular skill. The students in the study selected a historical topic from a list of historical subjects, then researched this topic, and displayed what they learned through multiple genres. The action researcher found that the multigenre research project increased students’ understanding of the differences in historical perspectives.
... Additional training and resources for teacher educators will ensure that teacher education programmes offer quality opportunities for preservice teachers to engage with HOS. Each of the design issues identified in this study merits further research on its own, which can benefit from theories in social studies and history education (Kötter & Hammann, 2017;Park & Cho, 2022)-for instance, the issue of empathising with people from the past can be more systematically investigated through the lens of historical empathy (Brooks, 2009;Endacott, 2014). Such research will deepen our understanding of the factors that may facilitate or hinder the use of HOS in science education. ...
While many recent curriculum reforms recognise the value of history of science (HOS) in science teaching, in-depth investigations into teachers’ experiences of planning HOS-based science lessons have been rare. We present a case study of two groups of preservice science teachers (PSTs) who collaboratively planned high school science lessons using HOS. The research aims were to understand what design issues arose and how they unfolded as each group planned the lesson. A design issue arises when group members dispute over a topic related to lesson planning and there is a need for decision making. We identified several major design issues around selecting a suitable history, adapting history, teaching a topic with no correct answer, balancing science and history, and empathising with people from the past, which manifested differently across the two groups. PSTs’ reflections suggested that the collaborative planning experience helped them understand the limitations of content-focused pedagogical methods in planning HOS-based lessons and recognise various ways HOS can be used to enrich science teaching. The study sheds light on some challenges of planning an unfamiliar type of science lesson and how a collaborative planning experience can create opportunities to broaden PSTs' knowledge of science instruction.
... & b). 3 The first theme prepares the groundwork for what follows by focusing on the site of the battle, the groups involved (soldiers, but also residents and medical personnel), while the latter focuses on the events of the battle. The themes are narrative based, highlighting, as much as possible, the stories of individuals as a conduit into the wider conflict; thus, through the particular we sought to bring greater historical empathy (Brooks, 2009;Yeager & Foster, 2001;Endacott & Brooks, 2013) of the experience of war on a wide range of individuals affected by it. Each topic was designed for a group of five (a total of 25 participants). ...
... For some, historical empathy is a distinctly rational ability (Davis et al., 2001;Lee & Ashby, 2001;Yeager et al., 1998) and developing it involves progression through developmental cognitive levels of explanatory reasoning capacities from novice to expert, so that students learn not to judge past beliefs and actions as irrational, unreasonable, evil, or backward (Lee & Shemilt, 2011). For others, the view of historical empathy as purely analytic is problematic because it discounts affective processes (Brooks, 2009;De Leur et al., 2017;Endacott & Brooks, 2013;Helmsing, 2014;Yilmaz, 2007). Yet, situations that ask students to put themselves in a past person's shoes do not, according to de Leur, van Boxtel & Wilschut (2017), "necessarily have to lead to excessive fantasy" (p. ...
The aim of this article is to present a pedagogical approach for history education. This approach is called Meaningful History and it outlines the process by which upper-level secondary history students can cultivate historical consciousness. Based on the notion of learning as meaning making and historical consciousness as a disposition to engage with history so as to make meaning of past human experience for oneself, the author describes a possible learning trajectory. Additionally, to show how this trajectory could apply to the classroom, the author offers three guidelines for educators to design and support such learning. These guidelines are: (1) negotiate the presence of the past, (2) inquire into the past with the help of habits of mind, (3) and build a sense of historical being. The guidelines are illuminated by examples that have been extracted from a design-inspired classroom experiment. In conclusion, the author suggests that future history education research investigate Meaningful History’s relevance and practicality in various settings.
... However, according to more recent research (Brooks, 2009;Endacott & Brooks, 2013;Yilmaz, 2007), the view that historical empathy is a knowledgebased analytic ability or achievement, embedded in or resulting from the historical method, is problematic. To walk in the shoes of people living in the past or see the world through their eyes, metaphorically speaking, requires "a skill to reenact" (Yilmaz, 2007, p. 331). ...
In response to the growing need for more relevant school history, the notion of historical consciousness has come to represent a way to help students understand the links between past, present, and future. However, translating the construct into practice in an ongoing puzzle in the field. Recently, efforts have been made to operationalize historical consciousness via a competency-based approach, but this is arguably problematic, because its proponents view historical consciousness as a hermeneutic quest for meaning yet operationalize it as a set path of mental processing. This article explores a different approach based on meaning-making practice. It does so through an extensive review and synthesis of the relevant literature, and based on the results, it suggests operationalizing historical consciousness through negotiating the presence of the past, inquiring about the past with the help of disciplinary and everyday habits of mind, and building a sense of historical being.
... Beberapa kajian terdahulu menunjukkan tugas-tugas yang eksplisit diarahkan untuk mengajak siswa mengidentifikasi aktor sejarah serta menggambarkan perspektif mereka merupakan fenomena umum pada banyak buku pelajaran sejarah, setidaknya di beberapa negara, misalnya Belanda. Tugas menceritakan kembali sering dianggap dapat merangsang imajinasi sejarah dan empati sejarah siswa dengan meminta mereka untuk menyusun narasi tentang tokoh sejarah dan situasi sezaman, sehingga menciptakan citra masa lalu yang lebih hidup dan dapat dipahami (Brooks, 2009;Cunningham, 2009). Narasi dan penggambaran tentang aktor sejarah yang lebih konkret membantu siswa untuk memahami perkembangan dan situasi sejarah yang seringkali abstrak (Lee, 1984;Prangsma, Van Boxtel, & Kanselaar, 2008). ...
The use of history textbooks is one of the keys to achieving the goals of historical education. Textbooks play an essential role in building students' historical empathy. A textbook present a reflective narrative that historical empathy. This study analyzes its narration in history textbooks has represented the aspect of historical empathy. The literature study method was used in this study. The object of research and data sources consist of 4 books from 3 publishers. Data analysis in this study was carried out by content analysis. The reliability used in this study is stability reliability, namely the reliability obtained by rereading the research data to understand the document. The results show that the books used by students had not fully the reflective narrative achieving historical empathy. There is no interrelation point of view. The textbook does not explore the thoughts. In addition, overall, books published by the Ministry of Education and Culture more reflective narratives that support the achievement of historical empathy compared to published by private publishers.
... The affective dimension is caring for people of the past. The affective dimension is relevant in understanding the past (Barton and Levstik 2004;Brooks 2009;Endacott andBrooks 2013, 2018). It is not possible to separate the affective from the cognitive aspects (Helmsing 2014). ...
This article presents an analysis of historical thinking operations deployed in a student debate on Chile’s difficult past. A discussion was held in a public school during the second semester of 2019 on sensitive issues in recent history. Twenty-seven students between eleven and fourteen years of age participated in the activity, corresponding to the sixth grade of primary education. The results indicate that the students are active thinkers of past events through operations such as identification and historical empathy. According to the debate, these operations unfold through the categories of family affiliation and social class from which they identify and empathise with the actors of the past and the temporal relationship with their own experience. The article concludes with some insights about peace education in post-conflict societies where the past conflict remains in the present.
... Al analizar múltiples perspectivas sobre los hechos, los estudiantes aprenden también a afrontar la complejidad y la incertidumbre propia del mundo social, una competencia de gran valor en el mundo contemporáneo (Barnett, 2000;. Los estudiantes parten de una visión simplista y reduccionista del funcionamiento social, tal y como han demostrado los estudios sobre el aprendizaje de la causalidad histórica (Pozo y Carretero, 1989;Stoel, van Drie y van Boxtel 2015;Alcoe, 2015), de la empatía histórica (Lee y Ashby, 2001;Brooks 2009;Huijgen, van Boxtel, van de Grift, Holthuis, 2016), del cambio y la continuidad (Lee, 2005;Fordham, 2012) o los conceptos históricos de naturaleza social (Carretero, 2011a;Carretero y Lee, 2014). Sintetizando mucho, podemos decir que tienden a concebir como simple lo que es complejo, como estático lo que es dinámico, como concreto e individual lo que es abstracto o social, o tomando como algo dado lo que puede ser problemático o incierto. ...
Explorar y debatir múltiples perspectivas sobre los acontecimientos del pasado es una orientación curricular tan aceptada entre los investigadores, como poco frecuente en nuestras aulas de historia. Como en entregas anteriores de esta serie de artículos, se analiza aquí esta orientación curricular a la luz de las investigaciones y experiencias publicadas, tratando de esclarecer en qué consiste, sus claves, sus prácticas más habituales y por qué resulta valiosa para los estudiantes. La multiperspectividad está en la misma esencia de la historia como disciplina. Se opone a la memoria, caracterizada por relatos cerrados que imponen una única versión del pasado. En esta tensión entre disciplina y memoria, la práctica de la enseñanza de la historia ha apostado habitualmente por la segunda. Pero aprender a analizar, valorar y debatir las distintas versiones del mundo del pasado (y del presente) tiene mucho más valor curricular. Multiperspetividad no sólo significa comprender la verdadera naturaleza polémica, abierta y crítica de la historia, sino que es la misma base de la ciudadanía democrática.
... 7e12;McCann et al., 2015;Spires et al., 2016), taking ownership of their projects, questioning texts, and participating in relevant instruction with authentic, real-world relationships (Ladson-Billings, 2014;Lent & Voigt, 2019;Lock & Duggleby, 2017;Math e & Elstad, 2018;McAvoy & Hess, 2013). Doing so promotes empathy development (Brooks, 2009;Mirra, 2019). ...
Although there is a growing body of research related to disciplinary and critical literacy practices within social studies classrooms, little is known about how teachers cultivate these practices through structured debates within the school day. Focusing on teachers at one high school, the researchers used a qualitative case study to explore how debate promoted critical and disciplinary literacy, simultaneously providing space for student empowerment and agency. Findings demonstrated an increased focus by teachers on student-led learning, highlighting how teachers made incremental changes that prioritised students’ argumentation skills and comfort in sharing their voice throughout the debate process and beyond.
... The ability to empathize. The ability to empathize might be considered as another type of perspective recognition, as it implies to reconstruct the decisions of a historical actor taking into account the historical context (Lee & Ashby, 2001), in sum, take a historical actor's perspective to understand his decisions in a livelier fashion (Brooks, 2009). Some scholars argue that historical empathy might be an impossibility (VanSledright, 2001), as history is always made in the present (Jenkins, 2003), even if one tries to avoid anachronism and presentism, it would always be conditioned by the framework and context of one's own time. ...
... The learning experience was created along two themes, "Before the Battle" and "Fighting the Battle," each divided into five key topics that, taken together, provide a multiperspective vista into the conflict and the preparations that went into it: The Buildings, Irish Volunteers, Sherwood Foresters, Local Population, and Medical Response ( The first theme prepares the groundwork for what follows by focusing on the site of the battle, the groups involved (soldiers, but also residents and medical personnel), while the latter focuses on the events of the battle. The themes are narrative based, highlighting, as much as possible, the stories of individuals as a conduit into the wider conflict; thus, through the particular we sought to bring greater historical empathy (Brooks, 2009;Yeager & Foster, 2001;Endacott & Brooks, 2013) of the experience of war on a wide range of individuals affected by it. Each topic was designed for a group of five (a total of 25 participants). ...
History in a Box is a technology-driven, team-based blended-learning activity that fosters multigenerational/family-based learning in the form of an interactive, inquiry-based serious game. The premise of the activity is to encourage historical thinking and teach historical reasoning by placing participants in the position of researchers as they investigate primary source material, evaluate conflicting sources, and form new interpretations. “Played” over the course of two hours, up to three generations work together to share knowledge and technical skills, utilising a sophisticated tablet-based interface allowing them to be active generators of knowledge as opposed to passive recipients of information. The theme of the activity, an important battle of the Irish 1916 Rising, The Battle of Mount Street Bridge, is approached from multiple points of view using a variety of primary and newly-created secondary material (e.g., videos, infographics) along with worksheets and notecards to keep track of the multiplicity of sources, many of them contradictory, partial, or incomplete. Unlike a lecture or a history book that synthesises and flattens the historical record, the non-narrative aspect of the activity gives access to many voices and points of view which each group evaluates and assesses, thus generating their own interpretations in an active, team-based setting. This chapter will discuss the design principles of the project and our findings from family-based events in the context of socially-engaged research.
... History educators across a range of perspectives note the essential role understanding historical context-situating persons and events in the full complexities of the time and place in which they lived/occurred-plays in studying history (e.g., Lévesque, 2008;Seixas et al., 2013;Van Drie & van Boxtel, 2008;Wineburg, 1998Wineburg, , 1991. However, teaching context and the context-dependent historical empathy/ perspective taking have been notoriously difficult (contextualization: Britt & Aglinskas, 2002;Mosborg, 2002;Nokes, Dole, & Hacker, 2007;Reisman, 2012;historical empathy: Berti, Baldin, & Toneatti, 2009;Brooks, 2009Brooks, , 2011Cunningham, 2007Cunningham, , 2009Endacott, 2010Endacott, , 2014Endacott & Brooks, 2013;Endacott & Pelekanos, 2015). ...
Using a broad-based assessment for understanding what teachers learn in historic site-based professional development (HSBPD), this study follows 29 teachers from a HSBPD at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello to see how their work at historic sites affected their practice upon return to their classrooms. Influenced by the Interconnected Model of Teacher Growth and Complexity theory, this study considers the complex outcomes of teachers as individuals, professionals, and learners in communities of practice. Results explore a range of outcomes related to content, pedagogical content knowledge, working with peers, interactions with the historic site, and a willingness to reconsider historical information. The discussion offers a consideration of the network of HSBPDs as a cumulative system and the ways in which teachers’ on-site work can deepen our understanding of working with complex historical sources and make larger curricular changes.
OPEN ACCESS LINK: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022487119841889
... The persistence of traditional instructional approaches tends to encourage students to rely on history texts to provide answers to historical questions (Wineburg, 1991;Yeager, Foster, Maley, Anderson, & Morris, 1998). On the other hand, students exposed to rich, multimodal activities are more likely to not only recognize multiple perspectives but see the value of doing so (Brooks, 2009;Lévesque, 2008;Levstik & Barton, 2011). Similarly, students who actively engage with different points of view in activities such as historical debate tend to have greater understanding of historical context and stronger perspective taking abilities (Jensen, 2008). ...
Historical empathy has increasingly been recognized as a multidimensional construct that involves both cognitive and affective dimensions (see Endacott & Brooks, 2013). Research suggests that engaging learners with diverse historical perspectives in activities like debate, writing, and role play can be more effective for historical empathy than traditional instruction. Although several studies have investigated the effectiveness of these strategies, little is known about the effectiveness of games in promoting historical empathy. Through observation, recorded game play, and semi-structured interviews, this study examined how historical empathy manifested as eighth graders played a videogame about World War I (Valiant Hearts). The findings indicate that specific elements of game play may foster particular dimensions of historical empathy better than others, and that some dimensions tend to arise spontaneously while others require (or even resist) prompting.
... In educational practice, research in the politics of empathy and understanding conclude that the degree of empathy is significantly deepened through first-person writing. In second and third-person writing, the writer thinks and feels from a witnessing position, exhibiting less connection with the event (Brooks, 2009;Davis, Yeager, & Foster, 2001, Foster & Yeager, 1998Weems, 2013). The imagined position or "standing in the space of another" (Weems, 2009, p. 153) engages an intimate thinking-feeling within the creation process. ...
... 456). In this view, cultivating students' capacity to participate in a democracy requires social studies teachers to position the moral and ethical dimensions of the subject area as fundamental, an idea that has been neglected in the research (Brooks, 2009). ...
Purpose
This study explores social studies from the moral perspective of an ethic of care. Care ethics considers not only the cognitive skills but also the affective dimensions of educative experiences for how they might forward an ethical ideal of caring.
Design/methodology/approach
This case study was conducted in a second-grade classroom at a small, diverse, urban, independent K-8th grade elementary school. Data was gathered from six sources: (1) notes from the participating second-grade teacher’s planning meetings over the course of a two and a half month unit of instruction about genealogy; (2) lesson plans and observation notes; (3) interviews of participating teachers; (4) interviews with participating students; (5) surveys of students; and (6) the second-grade teacher’s reflective journal. We took a phenomenological approach to data analysis, examining the entire data set and conducting inductive interpretive coding to identify emergent themes.
Findings
We found that adopting the theoretical perspective of care ethics helped a novice elementary teacher revise her approach to social studies instruction. Care ethics led to the teacher coming to see herself as a teacher of care ethics, focusing on dialogue over stories to teach caring in diverse contexts, and highlighting social aspects of the curriculum. The students’ descriptions of their learning indicate that they perceived a larger purpose for their social studies lessons – in this case, participation in social life – and that this perception contributed to their engagement.
Research limitations/implications
The study was conducted at one school site where the teachers enjoyed the intellectual freedom to infuse new perspectives such as care ethics into their curriculum. More research needs to be done to explore the feasibility of application of these ideas elsewhere.
Practical implications
Implications include how adopting an ethic of care provides a larger purpose for social studies that may deepen the educative experience, both for the teacher and for the students. Adopting an ethic of care in social studies might help cultivate students’ inclination to act in more caring ways toward one another.
Originality/value
This paper addresses the overlooked ethical purposes of teaching social studies from a care ethics perspective.
... For example, the editors of this special issue have researched historical consciousness in school textbooks and the place of ethical values in historical thinking and in history teaching (see, for example, Ammert, 2008Ammert, , 2013aAmmert, , 2013b, adolescents' perceptions of the meanings and justification of historical reparations as a reflection of their historical consciousness, and the public uses of historical reparations (see, for example, Löfström, 2011Löfström, , 2014, adolescents' responses to issues of violence and responsibility, the place of social and historical controversies and moral dilemmas in the guidelines mandated by core curricula (see, for example, Edling, 2009Edling, , 2012Edling, , 2016Edling & Frelin, 2013), and the question of representing sensitive pasts in the History curriculum (see, for example, Sharp, 2011). One particular theme which has been studied extensively by History educators and which has a close connection with historical and also moral consciousness is historical empathy and how to develop it (see, for example, Brooks, 2009;Davis, Yeager, & Foster (eds), 2001; as an example of a social psychological approach to the concept of empathy see Myyry, Juujärvi, & Pesso, 2010). ...
This special issue is the result of the workshop, Towards an integrated theory of historical and moral consciousness, supported by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences) and Suomen kasvatuksen ja koulutuksen historian seura (The Finnish Society for the History of Education) and held at the University of Helsinki, in 2015. History teaching and social studies education are increasingly expected to develop, among other things, students' historical consciousness. This goal is highly relevant for students' ability to deal constructively with controversial issues of history which is an important civic competence in the situation where in many societies' political arguments concerning, for example, citizenship rights, ethnic and cultural diversity, and democracy are only too often fuelled by simplistic narratives of historical change and continuity. However, there is a blank spot in the existing research on historical consciousness in that intersections between historical and moral consciousness remain very much unexplored. This special issue seeks to identify promising theoretical and conceptual points of convergence for future interdisciplinary studies of historical and moral consciousness. Contributors are from the fields of history, educational research, social psychology, and philosophy.
... In educational practice, research in the politics of empathy and understanding conclude that the degree of empathy is significantly deepened through first-person writing. In second and third-person writing, the writer thinks and feels from a witnessing position, exhibiting less connection with the event (Brooks, 2009;Davis, Yeager, & Foster, 2001, Foster & Yeager, 1998Weems, 2013). The imagined position or "standing in the space of another" (Weems, 2009, p. 153) engages an intimate thinking-feeling within the creation process. ...
Reparative pedagogy is an empathic, aesthetic teaching and learning perspective which frames support for inspiring learners, creating learning exchanges, and building community. It is a pedagogy that exists through the construction of learning within communities. Reparative pedagogy positions the learner in an open space for creation for the express intent of giving. While closely associated to service learning, the goal is not to teach civic responsibility but rather, to support the individual’s wish to contribute to and renew community. The paper discusses issues of Empathic Creation, Relationality Creation, and Value Creation. An example, using photographs, narrative clips, and a video demonstrating the ‘whole-learning’ process of shearing a sheep to final felt project creation, is used to demonstrate possibilities for reparative pedagogy.
Us et voluptatur modisint aut quaes et eius in rerunt estiur ad eost, La pédagogie réparatrice est une optique d’apprentissage et d’enseignement empathique, et esthétique qui offre le soutien nécessaire pour motiver les apprenants, promouvoir les échanges d’apprentissage et développer la conscience communautaire. C’est une pédagogie qui repose sur la construction de l’apprentissage au sein des communautés. La pédagogie réparatrice place l’apprenant dans un espace créatif ouvert, dans le seul but de donner. Bien qu’intimement liée à l’apprentissage par le service, la pédagogie réparatrice n’a pas pour but d’enseigner la responsabilité civique mais bien de soutenir la volonté de l’individu à contribuer à la communauté et à renouveler celle-ci. L’article aborde les thèmes de création empathique, de relationnalité et d’établissement de valeurs. À titre d’exemple, photographies, vidéoclips narratifs et bande vidéo illustrant le processus « d’apprentissage global », de la tonte d’un mouton jusqu’à la création ultime d’un projet à base de feutre, servent à démontrer le potentiel de la pédagogie réparatrice.
... In educational practice, research in the politics of empathy and understanding conclude that the degree of empathy is significantly deepened through first-person writing. In second and third-person writing, the writer thinks and feels from a witnessing position, exhibiting less connection with the event (Brooks, 2009;Davis, Yeager, & Foster, 2001, Foster & Yeager, 1998Weems, 2013). The imagined position or "standing in the space of another" (Weems, 2009, p. 153) engages an intimate thinking-feeling within the creation process. ...
We explore notions of empathy, caring and aesthetics in a conversation about Cindy’s lived experiences as a mature woman returning to learning in art education. As arts researchers, we collaborate to investigate Cindy’s visual journal and self-reflections on the role of identity construction from two core perspectives: 1) the personal challenges manifest in returning to learning that requires a redefinition of self, and 2) how Cindy’s story represents a growing trend in post-secondary institutions to a more diverse student body, shifting assumptions about life-long learning and the capacity of existing programs to provide support, in particular to mature women wishing to initiate career paths in teacher education, which has historically targeted younger female populations. From her story, rendered visually and textually, we begin to derive insights into the changes underway in higher education and advocate for the growing need for more complex educational practices and programming.
... The role and the importance of emotion in history teaching has been a topic of research for some decades (Brooks, 2009). Considering the range of feelings that history may arouse in students (to be discussed later), research has focused on two, asking about the importance of the link between history teaching and sense of identification, and more broadly, about the connection between history teaching and a sense of empathy. ...
... The aforementioned definitions represent only a few of those that have been proposed in the debate about what exactly historical empathy is, and there are many more (e.g., Yeager & Foster 2001; Lee & Ashby 2001; Brooks 2009). In all of the proposed definitions, two dimensions of historical empathy are present: a cognitive dimension and an affective dimension. ...
... Historical empathy is often named a potential historical-literacy outcome of instructional use of film (Marcus, 2005;Marcus, Metzger, Paxton, & Stoddard, 2010;Metzger, 2007). There may not be consensus on entirely what "historical empathy" means or looks like in practice (Brooks, 2009). Social studies researchers have tended to emphasize the role of taking on historical perspectives toward developing historical understanding (Davis Jr., Yeager, & Foster, 2001). ...
This case study explores potential educational tensions in historical empathy for learning about emotionally difficult topics through lessons that use dramatic feature films (movies). It investigates one case of historical empathy in the classroom by analyzing what a high-school teacher and her students do and talk about in class. The observed lesson was part of the teacher’s unit on World War II and the Holocaust in a World History course using the 2002 Academy Award-winning film The Pianist. The conclusion interprets this case as an example of how the visual and emotional power of movies may lead some students to “over-empathize” and feel that they can “really” know what a historical perspective must have been like. The “caring” aspect of historical empathy has the potential to overrun historical context and override other educational goals like learning and applying content knowledge.
... thinking in terms of past science). This could be achieved, for instance, by having students analyze and discuss differences between past and present science and by imagining possible versus appropriate emotions and actions of historical protagonists in a given situation (Brooks 2009). ...
The inclusion of the history and philosophy of science (HPS) in science teaching is widely accepted, but the actual state of implementation in schools is still poor. This article investigates possible reasons for this discrepancy. The demands science teachers associate with HPS-based teaching play an important role, since these determine teachers’ decisions towards implementing its practices and ideas. We therefore investigate the perceptions of 8 HPS-experienced German middle school physics teachers within and beyond an HPS implementation project. Within focused interviews these teachers describe and evaluate the challenges of planning and conducting HPS-based physics lessons using collaboratively developed HPS teaching materials. The teachers highlight a number of obstacles to the implementation of HPS specific to this approach: finding and adapting HPS teaching material, knowing and using instructional design principles for HPS lessons, presenting history in a motivating way, dealing with students’ problematic ideas about the history of science, conducting open-ended historical classroom investigations in the light of known historical outcomes, using historical investigations to teach modern science concepts, designing assessments to target HPS-specific learning outcomes, and justifying the HPS-approach against curriculum and colleagues. Teachers' perceived demands point out critical aspects of pedagogical content knowledge necessary for confident, comfortable and effective teaching of HPS-based science. They also indicate how HPS teacher education and the design of curricular materials can be improved to make implementing HPS into everyday teaching less demanding.
... These writings also offered students an opportunity to engage in historical empathy, a practice deemed desirable by educators and historians, but often elusive to classroom teachers (Brooks, 2009). Although scholars have not come to complete agreement on how to define historical empathy (Yilmaz, 2007), we see historical empathy as "a reconstruction of others' beliefs, values, and goals, any or all of which are not necessarily those of the historical investigator" (Riley, 1998, p. 33 n, 12(2) can I answer were or who t?" prompted dom." luded knowle on, also asked vity is anachro s, it resonates s. ...
The purpose of this study was to examine a group of fifth graders experiences, beliefs, and opinions during the construction of digital historical agent profiles. This research study examined a project in which students were engaged in the learning of historical content and were asked to convey information about the life of someone from the past through the medium of the present and future using a social networking profile page. The profiles were constructed while examining American Revolutionary period content, which included a primary focus upon historical agents from this time period. This study was constructed to gain a better understanding of how students engage critical historical thinking skills through investigating and developing conclusions about the history and lives of historical agents while utilizing technology. It was found that authentic historical inquiry was achieved, historical thinking primarily occurred at a novice level, and students engaged with the technology and found the creation of a digital historical profile to be a more interesting way to convey their knowledge of the content. Increasingly, researchers have examined the concept of developing historical thinking in the K-16 classroom (Brown, 2009; Drake & Brown, 2003; Endacott, 2010; Hartzler-Miller, 2001; Levstik & Barton, 2001; National Center for History in the Schools, 1996; VanSledright, 2004). This model refers to the process of allowing students to think and act like historians by engaging them in the act of "doing history" (Brown, 2009; Levstik, 1997; Levstik & Barton, 2001), embracing the habits of the historical mind, and engaging in the process of understanding and interpreting persistent historical themes by drawing connections to contemporary contexts through disciplined inquiry (Drake & Nelson, 2005). History and social studies teachers must find ways to allow their students to develop historical thinking skills and to engage them in authentic historical inquiry.
... While historical empathy is a concept identified with the pedagogical literature, the application to tourism appears appropriate given the stated educational mission of museums and other historic sites. A lively debate exists among history educators about the exact definition and nature of historical empathy (Brooks, 2009). The term is defined, on one hand, in terms of people developing an historical understanding by taking on the perspectives of people from the past through a close non-emotional, non-sympathetic engagement with historical evidence (for example, Foster, 1999). ...
Criticized for ignoring or misrepresenting slavery, some docents at plantation house museums have responded by including more references to slavery, but rarely move beyond mere factual references of the enslaved. This contrasts with the emotionally evocative accounts tourists hear about the planter-class family. We refer to this disparity as affective inequality. At plantation house museums, affective inequality is created and reproduced through specific spatial and narrative practices by tour guides. By retracing docent-led tours at Destrehan Plantation, Louisiana, this article engages, conceptually and empirically, with the concept of affective inequality — how it contributes to the marginalization of the history of the enslaved community, and how it becomes reproduced within the practices of tour guides at plantation house museums in the Southern US.
... The development of historical empathy requires that students adopt a perspective that might be different from their own (Foster 1999). Moreover, the concept encourages students to establish an emotional connection with historical actors from different eras and walks of life (Brooks 2009;Endacott 2010). In the words of Barton and Levstik (2004, 207-08), empathy "invites us to care with and about people in the past, to be concerned with what happened to them and how they experienced their lives." ...
Geographers have assessed the success and failure of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement in terms of the African American struggle for justice, social identity, and economic survival. Conspicuously absent from the geographic literature are pedagogically oriented studies of the historical geography of the Civil Rights era. The Movement's popular image has congealed into a celebratory collection of names and dates, the sum of which is a vague, nearly mythic retelling that students might recognize but not necessarily care about. As a result, the Movement is at once contemptuously familiar yet bewilderingly strange for our students. This article offers a sympathetic critique of conventional Movement narratives, introducing the notion of empathetic pedagogy and presenting a case study of the Montgomery bus boycott. Our pedagogical approach stresses the role of empathy, both as a factor in shaping the actual sociospatial development of the Movement, as well as a strategy for encouraging students to appreciate the everyday courage and sacrifice that animated so many of its participants. Our study brings together two burgeoning literatures that have the potential to cultivate empathy among students: the critical reevaluation of mobility and explorations of subjectivity from a psychoanalytic perspective. Here mobility is understood in both its literal and figurative sense: in the case of the bus boycott, the intricate network established to literally move African Americans around the city, as well as the figurative movement of sympathy and solidarity that “moved” people to support their efforts and now informs popular, selective understandings of the protest.
... The subtext strategy (Clyde et al. 2006) as a literacy strategy involves giving voice to characters/historical figures in order to step out of one's own world and into the world of another. Through taking on different perspectives, students learn to empathize with characters and situations (Brooks 2009;Foster and Yeager 1998). When students can empathize with perspectives different from their own, the potential for deep understanding increases dramatically. ...
The National Council of Teachers of English (200816.
National Council of Teachers of English. February 15 . 2008 . The NCTE Definition of 21st Century Literacies . http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/21stcentdefinition View all references) defines literacy as a collection of cultural and communicative practices shared among members of particular groups. Classrooms are cultures in which the development of these practices not only reflects the social studies, but also expands knowledge of the social studies while fostering civic competence among students. Planning literacy events (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) around content-related literature is a natural way to bring together literacy and social studies. In this article, the authors share literacy strategies that engage young learners in actively and socially constructing knowledge of history, self, and others. That knowledge then becomes the foundation for a democratic classroom where students “develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world” (National Council for the Social Studies 1994, 3).
This chapter examines a survey administered to preservice elementary teachers who were asked to evaluate an inquiry lesson on refugees. The lesson was designed for upper elementary students and incorporated videos and award-winning children's books. The survey asked the preservice teachers if they thought the unit was worthwhile, appropriate for elementary students, and if it developed young students critical thinking skills. A majority of the preservice teachers thought refugees was a timely global topic that young students should learn about. They thought the inquiry lesson supported and enhanced students' critical thinking skills and knowledge of the topic. They also found the design of the lesson age appropriate. Additionally, many of the preservice teachers made helpful suggestions for improving and enhancing the lesson.
This chapter examines the work of successful, self-identifying critical social studies teachers who demonstrated (or a desire to adopt) a humanizing pedagogy and linguistically responsive practice in support of their mainstream English language learning (ELL) students. The author proceeds by outlining some of the challenges ELLs face, some of the linguistic theories in their support, and how social studies disciplinary skills (inquiry and dialogue) can exist as a part of linguistically supportive social studies pedagogy. The teachers in this critical case study successfully incorporated supportive disciplinary, linguistically, and culturally responsive pedagogical approaches to social studies teaching. However, because the teachers had little linguistic training, the author argues they could have benefited from formally incorporating supportive language practices in their everyday pedagogies.
Public discourse is increasingly polarised when it comes to contemporary political and controversial issues. The debating climate has been described as an “echo chamber” where we tend to find arguments supporting our own established truths rather than having our horizons broadened. Consequently, the challenge of taking the perspectives of others can be seen in classrooms when political discussions and topics surface within social science education. Teaching offers important arenas for deliberation, but classrooms can be as homogeneous as online filter bubbles, particularly in highly segregated urban school settings. One way of challenging students’ one-sided views is to engage in, and practise, social perspective taking (SPT), a second-order concept engaging with different cultural and ideological understandings of political issues. This study examines two classroom interventions in an upper secondary school with the aim of contributing with empirical data about the components of SPT and how perspective taking can help students broaden their views on political issues. With a starting point in theory on SPT, students’ interactions and reflections in the classroom, collected in written students’ logs and follow-up interviews, are analysed. The results suggest that SPT segments can influence students’ understanding of standpoints other than their own and increase their engagement in class, but that contextualisation is specifically important in this process.
Keywords: social science education, perspective taking, controversial issues
Historical empathy has increasingly been recognized as a multidimensional construct that involves both cognitive and affective dimensions. Research suggests that engaging learners with diverse historical perspectives in activities like debate, writing, and role play can be more effective for historical empathy than traditional instruction. Although several studies have investigated the effectiveness of these strategies, little is known about the effectiveness of games in promoting historical empathy. Through observation, recorded game play, and semi-structured interviews, this chapter examined how historical empathy manifested as eighth graders played a videogame about World War I (Valiant Hearts). The findings indicate that specific elements of game play may foster particular dimensions of historical empathy better than others, and that some dimensions tend to arise spontaneously while others require (or even resist) prompting.
Lorenzo, N. & Gallon, R. (2020) Transcendent Learning Spaces. pp. 113-131, Ch.8. In Daniela, L. (2020) "New Perspectives on Virtual and Augmented Reality: Finding New Ways to Teach in a Transformed Learning Environment Perspectives on Education in the Digital Age". Routledge. Taylor & Francis Group.
Something is transcendent when it exceeds or surpasses usual limits beyond of ordinary experience; it can also mean being universally applicable or significant (Merriam-Webster, 2019).
Augmented reality (AR) is the result of adding layers of digital information onto the real world in real time, ‘an enhanced version of the physical, realworld reality of which elements are superimposed by computer generated or extracted real-world sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or haptics’ (Schueffel, 2017). Eventually, AR can even include olfactory and somatosensorial input.
Virtual Reality (VR) is the computer-generated simulation of a threedimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment (Oxford English Dictionary, 2019). The result is a sensorial experience that allows a person to use equipment such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors to interact with the images in a seemingly experiential or physical manner as with the real world.
In this chapter, the authors focus on the emerging technologies that are converging into a hybrid fisical-virtual world of human-machine interaction, and the transformative effects that this transmedia univers can have in human species evolution.
Ask for a copy, the metaverse is coming!
This study investigates how students' national identity affects their historical understanding by mediating their use of affective historical empathy. The research focuses on the case of “comfort women” (women forced into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers during WWII) in South Korea—a topic in which a strong nationalist narrative dominates social and educational discourses. I conducted semi-structured, task-based group interviews with 16 high school students in South Korea. In interviews, students' national identity mediated how they utilized four types of affective historical empathy: Students as ethnic Koreans cared more about “our” Korean comfort women over others; cared that Korean comfort women and others suffered from what “we” and “they” did as nations; cared for those women's voices from a humanitarian perspective beyond their ethnic and national boundaries; and cared to make social changes for those women and themselves as future citizens of their democratic nation. These findings help us understand how students' emotional attachment to “our” nation and its members can mediate their historical understanding through affective historical empathy as well as how affective historical empathy can motivate students to move beyond purely nationalistic concerns. This case study also stimulates reflection on historical empathy's implications for students' democratic civic participation.
Research into students’ interactions with historical video games is limited and tends to focus on teacher mediation. As a result, little is known about the meanings that students independently construct as they consume this form of media. This qualitative interview study uses Assassin’s Creed, a narrative video game with a historical setting, as a site of inquiry. Students described a sense of immediate access to history that contrasted with school-based learning, a sense of human connection to people in the past, and increased perception of multiple perspectives in history. They also evidenced a willingness to allow the games to rewrite their beliefs about history, and theorized about the games’ historical accuracy. However, students tended to miss opportunities for critical engagement with this visceral sense of immersive experience. As such, implications are raised regarding ways to promote critical investigation into gameplay experiences as well as the importance of fostering a sense of human connection to history through social education.
In this conceptual article we consider the pedagogical possibilities and pitfalls of incorporating White ally figures in history and social studies curricula. Drawing on the burgeoning scholarship on race and the social studies and literature on alternative racial orientations, such as allies, antiracists, and abolitionists, we contend that educators can use White-ally pedagogy to offer White students, in particular, examples of an antiracist White racial identity. We close with guidelines to provide social studies educators and teacher educators with a starting point for effectively introducing White allies into the social studies.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine whether or not the implementation of an instructional unit about an underrepresented historical figure, specifically Elizabeth Jennings, titled “The Elizabeth Jennings Project” (EJP) creates conditions conducive for middle and secondary social studies students to demonstrate historical empathy.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study methodology was selected for this study because the researcher implemented the EJP at one school with a small sample size of participants to assess which pedagogical factors, if any, fostered historical empathy through analysis of an underrepresented historical figure among middle and secondary social studies students.
Findings
Major findings highlight that active learning pedagogies, such as in-class debate, were effective strategies that promote historical empathy when middle and secondary students examined documents about an underrepresented historical figure. Analysis of the implementation of "The Elizabeth Jennings Project" provide insights about how historical empathy pedagogies can connect to national standards and initiatives such as the Common Core Standards for History/Social Studies and the National Council for the Social Studies College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for middle and secondary social studies.
Originality/value
Historical empathy refers to deep inquiry in which intellectual and affective responses to content are shaped through source analysis of the actions, motives, perspectives, and beliefs of people in the past. Although there are several studies that address pedagogies that promote historical empathy through examinations of famous historical figures, there is limited research concerning whether students display historical empathy by investigating underrepresented historical figures such as Elizabeth Jennings.
Historical empathy is a multidimensional construct that involves both the cognitive recognition of the perspectives of others as well as affective engagement with the lived experiences of people in the past. Actively engaging learners with diverse historical perspectives in activities like debate, writing, and role play has been shown to be more effective than traditional instruction in the promotion of historical empathy, but less is known about the effectiveness of videogames in this regard. This case study article examines how historical empathy manifested during play of the videogame Valiant Hearts. The results indicate that certain types of game play may promote particular dimensions of historical empathy better than others, and that some dimensions tend to arise spontaneously while others require (or even resist) prompting.
The authors explore how 3D visualizations of historical sites can be used as pedagogical tools to support historical empathy. They provide three visualizations created by a team at Virginia Tech as examples. They discuss virtual environments and how the digital restoration process is applied. They also define historical empathy, explain why it is important, and discuss how it is taught.
Scholars have long pointed to the power of music as a primary source in instruction for bringing past actors into sharper view and engender deeper connections with the past. By employing Dimitri Shostakovich's 7th Symphony, composed amidst the Nazi siege of Leningrad during the Second World War, we sought to explore, more precisely, the nature of how music, as a primary source, enhances the study of history among students. Through the formulation, execution, and assessment of a two-day lesson with students in five secondary history classes, three of which listened to the symphony and two of which did not, we found that the incorporation of the symphony resulted in students' enhanced empathetic understanding of the past. Implications include details regarding profound opportunities for, as well as challenges to, cultivating historical empathy through the use of music as a primary source.
Understanding historical empathy is a bourgeoning subfield of social studies education research. Students demonstrate historical empathy by analyzing sources 1) to determine historical context, 2) identify perspectives of historical figures, and 3) make affective connections to historical content. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to examine primary sources from educational leaders and organizations during the Progressive Era in American public school education in order to trace the origins of historical empathy as an implicit goal in the social studies curriculum. Our guiding research question is "How does the work of Progressive Era organizations and educational leaders impact how Americans viewed historical empathy?" We purposefully selected documents from Progressive Era organizations and certain leaders whose work formed a strong foundation of social studies education history. We conclude with an examination of the importance of historical empathy today in order to demonstrate the importance of historical empathy as a curricular aim of social studies education.
The concept of empathy in history education involves students in the attempt to think within the context of historical agents’ particular predicaments. Tracing the concept’s philosophical heritage to R. G. Collingwood’s philosophy of history and ‘re-enactment doctrine’, this article argues that our efforts in history classrooms to understand historical agents by their own standards are constrained by a tension that arises out of the need to disconnect ourselves from a present that provides the very means for understanding the past. Though rather than serving to undermine the concept, it is proposed that the moderate hermeneutics of H.-G. Gadamer, through a positive conception of prejudice, tradition and temporal distance, transforms the factors typically seen as inhibitors to empathy’s operation into those that potentially enable it. The article aspires to shed new light on what is at play when history students engage in the intellectually demanding task of empathizing in history.
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