Fostering Historical Empathy Through Network Analysis: Personal Experiences as a Lens for Understanding the Past

• In Event: Perspectives on Learning in Technology-Rich Contexts

Abstract

This study analyzes the development of undergraduate students’ historical empathy through survey data as students learned about historical pandemics via network analysis. 49 students used the Net.Create network visualization tool (Authors, 2018) to analyze and represent relationships between people, places, and events in a text about a historical plague outbreak in Hawaii. At the same time, students were experiencing the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in their own lives. We explore how students leveraged their own experiences with a pandemic to make sense of the perspectives of historical actors and the emotions they might have felt. We also highlight the benefits that network analysis offers to students as they develop nascent historical empathy and build an understanding of historical context.

Authors

• Megan Alyse Humburg, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Kalani L Craig, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Joshua Adam Danish, Indiana University

• Maksymilian Szostalo, Indiana University - Bloomington