“Creating Lives: Fictional Characters in the History Classroom,” with Kathryn Ciancia, Perspectives on History, October 2013.
Studying history is a creative and imaginative process; as we pour over our sources, we strive to enter the minds of the people we study and understand why the world looked so radically different through their eyes. As teachers, standing at the front of the classroom or sitting around the seminar table, we also encourage our students to take imaginative leaps. But what kinds of assignments best foster skills of historical empathy and understanding? We've found that one way to start exciting yet challenging conversations about our relationships with the past and the present is through student-created fictional historical characters.
A Pedagogical Experiment
