Advisory Committee Chair
Jeremiah Clabough
Advisory Committee Members
Andrew Baer
Jenna Lachenaye
Michele J Sims
Susan Spezzini
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
2020
Degree Name by School
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) School of Education
Abstract
This qualitative case study explored how perspective writing, in the form of historical dialogues, had the potential to help high school students in an urban school develop historical empathy skills. The study took place in an 11th grade United States history class where three types of data, interviews with the teacher, observation field notes, and student work, were collected over one school semester. Findings indicate that when presented with counter-narratives that introduce the experiences of groups that have been historically marginalized through U.S. history, students are more easily able to make personal connections and empathize with people from the past. In addition, when writing historical dialogues, students faced challenges contextualizing the past due to finding it difficult to avoid presentism. This was especially true when writing about issues such as racism, gender roles, and injustice as well as writing dialogues between historical figures who were of the same race, culture, and/or gender. Another finding suggested that, through the analysis of primary sources, high school students were able to understand that people from the past were influence by factors such as race, politics, economics, and the historical era.
Recommended Citation
Yancie, Nefertari, "Developing High School Students' Historical Empathy Skills Using Historical Dialogues: A Qualitative Study" (2020). All ETDs from UAB. 3400.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/3400
