Abstract

As Collingwood notes, every historian has not only a personal perspective but also the constraint of operating within a public tradition of truth and acceptability. This background of knowledge, experience, emotions, and so forth may necessarily be more truncated for an adolescent than for a mature historian. Empathetic reconstruction is both an imaginative and analytic act. The process of bringing about empathetic reconstruc - tion in the history classroom will take a long time, will need to be structured and systematic, and so will require constant striving on the part of the teacher. The essential point is that children must be encouraged to grasp the world-view and frame of reference of the historical agents and to overcome their own prejudices and misconceptions. This is best achieved through such devices as the structured dilemma