Read the following passage for an explanation of historical empathy. As you read, highlight words and phrases that you think are key to defining historical empathy, whether you included them in your initial definition or not.
Using your cursor, select the phrases and sentences in the text you want to highlight. Next, click on the pen icon. You may add a comment or question in the text box that appears. Be sure to click Save before continuing
The Importance of Historical Empathy |
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Historical empathy is a crucial skill for students to develop in order to become active and effective participants in our democracy. Practicing historical empathy does not require students to accept the perspectives of historical figures as their own (there are, after all, many people from the past whose perspectives we would not wish our young people to identify with). However, it does require them to care about the perspectives and experiences of others and to seek to understand them on their own terms. Social studies education researchers Keith Barton and Linda Levstik write: “To understand people in the past, we must contextualize their actions—we must understand, as best we can, their world and how they saw it, no matter how greatly those experiences and perceptions differed from our own.” In other words, historical empathy enables us to make authentic connections between ourselves and people from the past, while simultaneously drawing crucial distinctions between them and us, their lives and ours. When students transfer this skill to interactions with their fellow citizens today, they are better prepared to meaningfully engage in deliberative democracy. |
Click on MY WORK above to see what you wrote earlier when asked to define historical empathy on Page 3. What would you add or change based on what you have learned? Write your ideas here.