Historical Empathy and Perspective Taking in the Social Studies

Contributors to this volume offer insights from the discipline of history about the nature of empathy and the necessity of examining perspectives on the past. On the basis of recent classroom research, they suggest tested guides to more robust teaching. The contributors insist that with experienced history and social studies teachers, students can learn many historical details and, with the use of empathy, develop deepened and textured interpretations of the history that they study.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Introduction : In Pursuit of Historical Empathy Chapter 2 The Role of Empathy in the Development of Historical Understanding Chapter 3 Empathy, Perspective Taking, and Rational Understanding Chapter 4 From Empathic Regard to Self-Understanding: Im/Positionality, Empathy, and Historic Contextualization Chapter 5 Crossing the Empty Spaces: Perspective-Taking in New Zealand Adolescents' Understanding of National History Chapter 6 Teaching and Learning Multiple Perspectives on the Use of the Atomic Bomb: Historical Empathy in the Secondary Classroom Chapter 7 Perspectives and Elementary Social Studies: Practice and Promise Chapter 8 The Holocaust and Historical Empathy: The Politics of Understanding Chapter 9 Historical Empathy in Theory and Practice: Some Final Thoughts

About the Author :
O. L. Davis, Jr. is Catherine Mae Parker Centennial Professor of Curriculum and Instruction. Elizabeth Anne Yeager is associate professor of social studies education at the University of Florida. Stuart J. Foster is associate professor of social science education at the University of Georgia.

Review :
Davis, Yeager, and Foster's volume will contribute to the current sea-change in approaches to history education. As schools move from teaching history as 'the facts,' to promoting more complex thinking about the past, the concept of 'historical empathy' will figure centrally in curriculum, instruction, and research. Historical Empathy and Perspective Taking in the Social Studies offers a diverse set of studies on how young people—and their teachers—make sense of the past, from Lee and Ashby's ground-breaking British research to a range of studies by both established and newer American researchers. Through descriptions of their own research initiatives, generous citation from the literature, and classroom vignettes, the authors make a compelling case for the power of entertaining the beliefs, goals, and values of others and appreciating the past as a very different place from the present. They whet the reader's appetite by showing how the power of evidence and historical context enable students to understand and appreciate why people acted as they did. For the historical researcher, teacher educator, and classroom teacher concerned with meaningful history, this is a must read. This book collects enlightening work by leading researchers from the US and the UK. Recommended for graduate students, researchers, and professionals. Empathy, a construct at the heart of historical understanding, is given fresh life in this exciting collection. With a careful balance of established researchers and rising stars, Historical Empathy and Perspective Taking in the Social Studies sets a new standard in research on history learning. I predict that it will become an indispensable reference for teachers, researchers, and curriculum developers for years to come.