Collingwood's methodology for reconstructing the past from primary sources: re-enactment, interpolating, and interrogating¶

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Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 theoretical), q1 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

Collingwood's methodological approach treats primary source documents and relics as evidence for imaginatively reconstructing the past through three processes. Re-enactment means thinking oneself into the historical situation and re-thinking the thoughts of the people involved: "we re-think the thoughts of the persons engaged in the situation". Interpolating bridges gaps in what sources state, which Collingwood called 'constructing history'; interrogating subjects source statements to critical questioning rather than accepting them at face value. The paper adapts this method into classroom instructional strategy.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Written testimony, relics, or remains must exist as evidence; without a source the historian cannot know anything about the event
• Evidence must be referenced so that others could re-imagine the events and ideas used in the narrative

Constraints¶

• Interpolation must not fill gaps with fanciful details; imagining beyond what the sources warrant enters the realm of fiction

Target Learners¶

• K-12 social studies and history students

Target Learning Objectives¶

• Constructing warranted historical accounts from primary sources
• Historical perspective-taking and empathy

Claims¶

• Collingwood's ideas about how historical knowledge is produced offer teachers sound reasons for using constructivist approaches in their classrooms [+W]

Related Theories¶

Examples¶

• Recognize and acknowledge the profound importance of the human imagination in learning and knowing when designing history instruction
• Use a strategy for imagining the past built on two sets of guiding questions applied to primary source documents

Key Sources¶

• Lemisko, L.S. (2004). The Historical Imagination: Collingwood in the Classroom. Canadian Social Studies. https://www.quasar.ualberta.ca/css. doi:10.29173/css130