Intresset för historiedidaktik ledde mig till Skolverkets Kommentarmaterial till kursplanen i historia där begreppet historisk empati återkom i relevanta sammanhang utan en närmare definiering. Jag bestämde mig för att ta reda på det vilket ledde till att syftet blev att se hur svensk historiedidaktisk forskning definierar begreppet historisk empati samt vad som aktiverar och utvecklar begreppet historisk empati enligt nationell forskning. För att ta reda på syftet och besvara mina frågeställningar användes en systematisk litteraturstudie med en induktiv ansats. Utifrån svensk historiedidaktisk forskning med internationell referenslitteratur som språngbräda insåg jag genom den induktiva metoden hur tre kategorier bildades utifrån forskares definitioner samt metoder för hur begreppet historisk empati kunde utvecklas hos individen. Forskare närmade sig begreppet genom att hänvisa till att begreppet historisk empati utvecklades antingen av en kognitiv förmåga eller ur en kontextuell förståelse men begreppet historisk empati kunde även utvecklas genom att en individ blev känslomässigt engagerad och därför motiverad till att lära vilket i sig kunde utveckla begreppet historisk empati. Mina slutsatser är att kategorierna tillsammans leder till att historisk empati utvecklas hos individen. Vad forskare menar utvecklar historisk empati hos individen är däremot olika då skillnaden är att forskare tillåter olika metoder till att utveckla begreppet historisk empati. De forskare som menar att det enbart krävs en kognitiv förmåga till att utveckla begreppet historisk empati ser inte att motivationen av att bli emotionellt engagerad som en del i att utveckla en historisk empatisk förmåga. Ytterligare finns de forskare som anser att en emotionell känsla kan fungera som motivation vilket leder till att en nyfikenhet skapas som leder till att en kognitiv förmåga byggs upp och att begreppet historisk empati utvecklas.

I denna kunskapsöversikt har vi kartlagt och exemplifierat olika pedagogiska tillvägagångssätt, eller “verktyg”, som används för att uppnå historisk empati hos elever. Vi har huvudsakligen använt forskning som fokuserar på observationer av pedagogiska moment. Underlaget är hämtat från flera geografiska områden, samt de svenska förutsättningarna, dvs, skrivelser som utgör lärarprofessionens uppdrag under LGR11. I resultatdelen har vi sammanställt centrala punkter som identifierats för utvecklandet av historisk empati hos elever. Vi har även kort beaktat hur historisk empati har överförts från ett teoretiskt begrepp, till klassrumspraktiken. Detta då begreppet har flera olika etablerade tolkningar inom det akademiska fältet.  Vårt material har vi funnit genom databaserna SwePub och ERC, samt relevanta ämnesdidaktiska verk och dokumentation från skolverket.

The purpose of this study is to explore how teachers across content areas conceptualize planning and teaching of the Holocaust. Although there are numerous studies on Holocaust education, particularly on teachers’ approaches and practices, there is little research regarding teachers’ use of secondary sources and the impact these sources have on their approaches to planning and teaching about the Holocaust. This study will examine New Jersey state standards and curricula, as well as educational practitioner journals, in order to highlight relationships between resources provided to teachers and their approaches to planning and teaching about the Holocaust. Further, it will provide researchers with an empirical analysis, contributing to the increasing scholarly literature on Holocaust education. This study addresses the following research questions: How do teachers and policy makers in Language Arts and Social Studies conceptualize teaching of the Holocaust? What approaches do Language Arts and Social Studies teachers use when planning for teaching about the Holocaust? In what ways do state standards and mandated curricula guide teachers’ decision-making when teaching about the Holocaust? What recommendations do content area specific practitioner journals make for teaching about the Holocaust? This intrinsic collective case study will triangulate data from multiple sectors of the educational system to provide a broad and detailed view of the approaches to teaching about the Holocaust across different content areas. This study will additionally serve as a tool for school districts and policy makers to inform their future decisions regarding the selection and use of secondary sources and curriculum content, allowing teachers to make better pedagogical decisions with regards to their students’ learning. / Educational Leadership

Detta arbete behandlar huruvida läromedlen Utkik 7-9 Historia och SO direkt historia ämnesboken, som används för historiekunskap i årskurs 7-9, följer läroplanens värdegrundsuppdrag om att främja det mångkulturella samhället eller indirekt motarbetar det. Fokus i den kvalitativa undersökningen av läromedlen är att studera utifrån vilka perspektiv utomeuropeisk historia berättas och om dessa perspektiv öppnar upp eller förhindrar utvecklandet av historiemedvetande och historisk empati, som således bör främja nutida mångkultur. Undersökningen har därför gjorts utifrån de två perspektivbegreppen eurocentrism och interkulturellt lärande, två ytterligheter när det gäller historieframställning och där interkultur arbetar mer i främjandet av mångkultur. Vidare sker en komparativ analys för att se om något av läromedlen gör ett bättre jobb i uppfyllandet av värdegrunden. För att ge bakgrund till arbetet används utdrag från Skolverkets hemsida samt från grundskolans läroplan. Undersökningsfrågorna baseras i olika typer av tidigare forskning utförd av Niklas Ammert, Lars Nyström (med flera), Peter Gran samt Maria Johansson. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att läromedlen inte lever upp till läroplanens krav eftersom de båda till övervägande del präglas av eurocentriska perspektiv snarare än interkulturella. Detta förhindrar således för elever att utveckla ett historiemedvetande och historisk empati. / This essay examines whether or not the textbooks Utkik 7-9 Historia and SO direkt historia ämnesboken, which both are used as teaching materials in compulsory school history (grades 7-9), meet the values of the curriculum concerning the support of a multicultural society. The qualitative study therefore investigates from which perspectives non-European history is described, and if those perspectives enable or prevent the development of historical consciousness and historical empathy, two qualities that benefit multiculturalism. Therefore, the examination has its foundation in the two perspective concepts eurocentrism and intercultural learning, which are each others opposites when it comes to historical representation. In short, intercultural learning has a bigger focus on embracing multiculturalism. A comparative analysis is also carried out to examine if one of the two textbooks do a better job fulfilling the values of the Swedish curriculum. Extracts from the compulsory school curriculum and from Skolverket's website will be used as background for the investigation. The survey questions are based on different research done byNiklas Ammert, Lars Nyström (and others), Peter Gran, and Maria Johansson. The result from the study shows that both textbooks fail to meet the requirements of the curriculum since they are predominantly characterized by a eurocentric perspective rather than an intercultural one. Therefore they also prevent students from developing historical consciousness and historical empathy.

Historical empathy (HE) is refers to deep inquiry in which academic and emotional responses to historical content are shaped through source analysis of the actions, motives, perspectives, and beliefs of people in the past. There are limited studies about whether students demonstrate HE through analysis of underrepresented historical figures. Additionally, studies are limited on how students’ social identities influence demonstration of HE. Consequently, there is a gap in the literature with regard to whether source analysis of underrepresented historical figures, as well as students’ social identities, impact demonstration of HE and critical race consciousness (CRC). Elizabeth Jennings is an example of an underrepresented historical figure. She was an African American teacher who was forcibly ejected from a streetcar due to her race in 1854. Jennings sued the streetcar company and won. Although Jennings set an important precedent for African Americans to use the legal system to challenge antebellum segregation ordinances, she remains a relatively obscure historical figure. The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not an instructional unit about Elizabeth Jennings called “The Elizabeth Jennings Project” (EJP) promotes conditions conducive for student demonstration of HE and/or CRC. A case study of one middle and two high school classes was conducted at one private, non-secular school in an urban area of the Northeast. Instructional methods that best promoted HE included in-class discussion and debate. Students provided insights about their social identities during focus group sessions with regard to how the EJP fostered HE and CRC.

The purpose of this essay is to analyze how the Swedish government agency Forum för levande historia mediates historical understanding through attempts to bridge distance in time and space. With reference to the concept of historical empathy I examine two publications by the Forum för levande historia agency to illustrate how history may be conveyed in a way which constitutes historical empathy in relation to secondary school students. The essay is guided by three question: "how can one understand the concept of historical empathy in relation to the student materials published by the Forum för levande historia angency in a broader educational context?", "how does the Forum för levande historia agency relate to the readers historical understanding?", and, "in what way is historical empathy used to bridge the temporal and geographical dimension in history education?". Furthermore, my theoretical framework states that historical empathy can only be achieved through an alignment of historical positionality; a positioning of a texts authors and recipients regarding their preconceived understanding of his-tory. Thus, history may only be conveyed when an author positions the historical content in a way that consider how the recipient’s ontological, epistemological, existential, and sociocultural disposition impact their view of history. Through my textual analysis, with basis in said theoretical framework, I conclude that Forum för levande historia convey history by three different means, each one facilitated as a different type of historical empathy. Consequently, the three types that constitutes historical empathy, narrative, subjective, and contextual empathy, are used by the authors to position the text in a way that is accessible for student. However, as the analysis demonstrate a hybridization in the use of historical empathy raises questions about whether this implementation develop or impair historical empathy. Hence, my essay suggests that the implication for teaching history, as well as history education in a broader sense, require educators to reflect and evaluate how they con-vey history.

Images are used in history education for a variety of reasons, not least to generate interest through a better understanding of historical events and people. The aim of this study was to investigate how historical pictures, either illustrated or documentary/photographic, can be used as a resource for activating and improving pupils' historical empathy, in the way described by Stéphane Lévasque. I conducted a reception study on five different focus groups consisting of pupils from different upper secondary schools in Sweden. The pupils varied with regard to number of credits for admission to upper secondary school. A sixth group of pupils was interviewed as a contrasting control group in order to add perspective to the results. The discussions were based on the pupils' interpretations of 34 selected pictures, all of which were taken from the most common history textbooks. Each pupil was asked to choose the picture he/she felt was the most representative historical image. On the basis of the strategies used by the pupils when interpreting the pictures and discussing them, the material was analysed in accordance with Lévesque's categories: imagination, historical contextualisation and morals. The last category, morals, was further divided into three sub-categories: sense of justice, sympathy and progression. The reflections of the pupils and the degree of contextualisation varied. It appeared that the pupils were less inclined to discuss assumptions about the persons in the pictures; instead they chose to discuss the historical context in question. The pictures in this study did not seem to trigger the pupils to fabricate anachronistic reasoning about history; when they did produce lengthy reasoning, it was contextual, structural and metahistorical. In this context, the pupils who belonged to the group with the highest average of credits showed some signs of reflection on the basis of historical context and some criticism about the historical sources. On no occasion did any of the pupils choose a picture as a concrete expression of injustice. One of the questions this study aimed to explore was whether a lack of historical context affects how pictures trigger emotions and reasoning on the basis of moral aspects. Some of the pupils displayed moral standpoints, primarily the degree of morals concerning injustice. One possible interpretation could be that the feeling of being unfairly treated and subjected to insulting behaviour and social injustice was something the pupils could relate to. The group of pupils who had not yet studied history at upper secondary school, the control group, generally made reflections using this sort of reasoning when they discussed the historical aspects of the pictures.

Images are used in history education for a variety of reasons, not least to generate interest through a better understanding of historical events and people. The aim of this study was to investigate how historical pictures, either illustrated or documentary/photographic, can be used as a resource for activating and improving pupils' historical empathy, in the way described by Stéphane Lévasque. I conducted a reception study on five different focus groups consisting of pupils from different upper secondary schools in Sweden. The pupils varied with regard to number of credits for admission to upper secondary school. A sixth group of pupils was interviewed as a contrasting control group in order to add perspective to the results. The discussions were based on the pupils' interpretations of 34 selected pictures, all of which were taken from the most common history textbooks. Each pupil was asked to choose the picture he/she felt was the most representative historical image. On the basis of the strategies used by the pupils when interpreting the pictures and discussing them, the material was analysed in accordance with Lévesque's categories: imagination, historical contextualisation and morals. The last category, morals, was further divided into three sub-categories: sense of justice, sympathy and progression. The reflections of the pupils and the degree of contextualisation varied. It appeared that the pupils were less inclined to discuss assumptions about the persons in the pictures; instead they chose to discuss the historical context in question. The pictures in this study did not seem to trigger the pupils to fabricate anachronistic reasoning about history; when they did produce lengthy reasoning, it was contextual, structural and metahistorical. In this context, the pupils who belonged to the group with the highest average of credits showed some signs of reflection on the basis of historical context and some criticism about the historical sources. On no occasion did any of the pupils choose a picture as a concrete expression of injustice. One of the questions this study aimed to explore was whether a lack of historical context affects how pictures trigger emotions and reasoning on the basis of moral aspects. Some of the pupils displayed moral standpoints, primarily the degree of morals concerning injustice. One possible interpretation could be that the feeling of being unfairly treated and subjected to insulting behaviour and social injustice was something the pupils could relate to. The group of pupils who had not yet studied history at upper secondary school, the control group, generally made reflections using this sort of reasoning when they discussed the historical aspects of the pictures.

In this study we wanted to compare how history teachers working in various stages in the compulsory school and high school bring history to life through artifacts and narrations and how it differed based on the students’ cognitive maturity. We also studied how the combination of artifacts, role-playing games and stories can affect students’ learning of history. Semi-structured interviews with five teachers ranging from middle school up to high school were implemented and we coded the results through materialistic and narrative theories. Our findings conclude that authentic artifacts are rarely used because teachers do not have the resources to administer them. Instead photographs and generated artifacts are most used. Narrations in the form of stories and role-playing games are used to help students understand how history is used today and to help the students understand past actors in their own contexts. Our research also shows that popular history is present in history education because teachers believe it is engaging for the students. Popular themes such as the Viking-age and the World Wars are easier for the students to engage with. Therefore, narratives from popular historical themes are easier to bring to life in history education. The higher the education, the more abstract use of history brought to life. In our findings we concluded that when history was brought to life in middle school education it was to make learning more entertaining. In the higher stages it was used to bring actual artifacts as tools to work with abstract didactical themes such as uses of history and critical analysis of sources. This correlates with the cognitive maturity of the students’ ages. Combined, artifacts and narrations give a more holistic view of the past since it provided multimodal teaching opportunities for the students regarding their historical empathy and historical understanding.

This study examines the perceptions of history and social studies teachers in the Lakeway Area of East Tennessee concerning the use of primary source materials in classroom instruction. The purpose of this study was to determine what value the educators in the intact group held for the use of primary source documents, how much time was devoted to the analysis of primary source documents by students in those classes, and potential barriers to the implementation of the use of primary source materials. The research design was descriptive and used data gathered from a survey instrument constructed by the researcher. A pilot test of the instrument was conducted, reliability coefficients were calculated, and the survey instrument was modified. The final survey consisted of 44 statements, a demographic section, and four open-response questions. A total of two hundred eighteen surveys were sent to eligible educators in Cocke, Grainger, Hamblen, Hawkins,and Jefferson counties. One hundred fourteen of the surveys were returned and were used for this study. Other variables studied were gender, job classification, years of experience, the amount of time reported using primary sources in class, past or current membership in the National Council for Social Studies, participation in professional development emphasizing primary source analysis, and the type of teaching certification held by the respondents. The findings include: The two greatest obstacles to the implementation of the use of primary source materials were lack of training or relevant experience and the perceived access to materials; comfort in using technology and ability level of students did not appear to be significant obstacle barriers; all categories of respondents held a positive opinion of the use of primary sources. A review of the responses to the open-response questions revealed that time could also have been an obstacle barrier to the implementation of the use of primary sources. It appears that the lack of training or relevant experience, the perceived access to materials, and perhaps time may be limiting factors in determining the amount of time educators in this area devote the primary source analysis.