Empathetic and Transformative Engagement in Historical Inquiry

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 3:20 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Approaches to Curriculum in History Education (Table 2)

Abstract

Traditional historical research and teaching have been primarily guided by textual analysis that avoids bias, or pre-judgement and empathetic and transformative engagement. Paul Ricoeur’s notion of “memory-as-care” and analytical hermeneutics (AH) offers a pragmatic approach that privileges pre-judgement. This study looks at an AH intervention tool for history education called “Historical Process Constructs (HPCs)”. The study integrated AH theory and Design-Based Research (DBR), employing a qualitative-dominant, mixed-methods design. A Document-Based Inquiry, implemented in two secondary schools in Vancouver, B.C., provided the intervention, to determine the efficacy of the HPCs in the secondary school classroom. The HPCs did, to a nominal degree, empathetically and transformatively engage students in historical inquiry.

Authors

• Dale R. Martelli, Vancouver School Board

• Kevin D. O'Neill, Simon Fraser University