Contemporary world is facing
massive social issues that need considerable attention of the people related to
the education field. The reason behind such issues are lack of understanding and
conceptualization of the historical events and scripts.
Recent Burma, Miami and many other brutal acts are the result of lack of empathy
and critical thinking. Sadly, the world is busy in educating the minds but fails
in educating the souls. Recent world does not need education but value-based
education to build tolerance, respect for other rights & rituals and accept
diversity which is the beauty of the world.
Therefore, to resolve such issues and inculcate empathy for others around,
teachers should take lead. They should find different methods to engage students
in critical thinking process and help them view the available knowledge from
different perspectives and in a logical manner.
Human history is complicated as it has been written by different people who
perceived the events according to their own understanding. History is sometimes
considered biased as it has either written or directed by rules. That’s why
sometimes it creates confusion about one event and end up with conflict among
people. Such conflicts hinder the progression of a nation and at times affect
the image of a society. A hero for one nation in history has very negative image
for others. That’s why history should be viewed and taught with a balanced
approach.
Hence, to give a holistic view of history it is crucial to work on knowledge,
skills and attitude of the people and encourage them to approach difference
sources for clarity.
History is considered to be one of the boring subjects. The reason behind this
is traditional teaching approach the teachers use to teach. Teachers usually use
one sided approach and present the details in lecture form.
I believe history is an interesting subject and should be regarded with
interest. Teachers therefore, should use different methods to teach.
Classroom is the best platform that helps students to broaden their horizon of
thinking through different teaching approaches.
Historical empathy is a term that encourages the learners to inquire the
available information, approach different sources and demonstrate in-depth
understandings of its realities in holistic way. The aim of historical empathy
is to go beyond the boundaries. It helps the learner in changing view by putting
his/her feet in other shoes to evaluate different perspectives for better
understanding. Resultantly, it removes misunderstanding, clear the concepts and
entrench respect for others. Historical empathy allows the learner to appreciate
the feelings, thoughts, views and response to an attitude of another person. It
is one of the important skill that students should learn, so to compare past
with present and infer meaning from.
Adding to this, inquiry-based learning should be encouraged in history classroom
to solve the problems of tomorrow. Inquiry-based learning develops deeper
understanding, analytical skills and encourages the students to think out of the
box.
Moreover, Socratic approach also pays off in learning history as it opens the
mind of students and help them study deeply.
Besides, brainstorming, role-play, projects, reflective writing tasks,
interview, historical place, field trip and inviting old people and scholars as
a guest speaker are some of the strategies that can benefit students learning
and help them change their perspective regarding history. Such techniques will
build bridge between school, home and community, and engage the students in
enhancing their learning.
It is not an easy task to teach children historical thinking and entrench
historical empathy. Therefore, management should engage academically strong
background people as mentors for teachers. Proper trainings on teaching
techniques is also crucial.
To change the mindset of the people and for bringing harmony and peace in the
world teacher should play a role of change agent through their knowledge, skills
and attitude.