Curriculum in Historical Perspectives
Titles of Presentations in a Panel
They Were Here: Promoting Historical Empathy with Community Outreach and Student Local History Research
Abstract
Historical empathy (HE) is a growing field in social studies education that has gained considerable scholarly attention over the past three decades. Endacott and Brooks (2018) contend that future HE research must focus on “prosocial civic behavior as an extension of the process of classroom-based exercise” (p. 220). As a result, developing a local history curriculum from an HE perspective may be beneficial in not only promoting engaged learning, but also fostering pro-social behavior through student participation in community outreach with conducting historical research about a community event, person, or site such as a historical cemetery. Therefore, the following research question frames this study: Can high school students’ participation in a local history research and community outreach project promote historical empathy? The purpose of this study, which was funded by a Georgia Humanities grant, is to ascertain perspectives from 24 public high school students who were enrolled in an extracurricular leadership program about how conducting primary source research and oral history interviews to produce documentary films about the Macedonia African Methodist Church Cemetery, a historical Black cemetery located in a suburban area in the Southeast, promoted their engagement in HE. In alignment with the conference theme “Promoting Dialogue and Cooperative Action,” we hope this scholarship contributes to larger curricular discussions about how student engagement in local history research and community service on social justice issues can promote
Presentation Description
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Location
Room 107
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Perrotta, Katherine and Helfenbein, Robert, "Curriculum in Historical Perspectives" (2022). Curriculum Studies Summer Collaborative. 16.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cssc/2022/2022/16
Curriculum in Historical Perspectives
Room 107
Historical empathy (HE) is a growing field in social studies education that has gained considerable scholarly attention over the past three decades. Endacott and Brooks (2018) contend that future HE research must focus on “prosocial civic behavior as an extension of the process of classroom-based exercise” (p. 220). As a result, developing a local history curriculum from an HE perspective may be beneficial in not only promoting engaged learning, but also fostering pro-social behavior through student participation in community outreach with conducting historical research about a community event, person, or site such as a historical cemetery. Therefore, the following research question frames this study: Can high school students’ participation in a local history research and community outreach project promote historical empathy? The purpose of this study, which was funded by a Georgia Humanities grant, is to ascertain perspectives from 24 public high school students who were enrolled in an extracurricular leadership program about how conducting primary source research and oral history interviews to produce documentary films about the Macedonia African Methodist Church Cemetery, a historical Black cemetery located in a suburban area in the Southeast, promoted their engagement in HE. In alignment with the conference theme “Promoting Dialogue and Cooperative Action,” we hope this scholarship contributes to larger curricular discussions about how student engagement in local history research and community service on social justice issues can promote
