Going Beyond Mere Facts in the Study of History
History is hard to teach because students will not remember facts without a context, but they cannot comprehend the context without knowing the facts. As Mrs. Cheney suggests, if we all learn common facts, we can have a common conversation. But most of us learn facts only in the process of answering questions we find important. So good instruction draws students into historical controversies that they cannot solve without mastering the details of actors and events.

Sam Wineburg, a professor at the University of Washington, explores this conundrum in "Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts" (Temple University Press, 2001), which was called the year's best book by the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Dr. Wineburg says the study of history should lead to empathy with historical figures, much as the study of literature explores human dilemmas by weighing the practical pressures that characters experience as well as absolute ethical values.

Dr. Wineburg shows how students can join debates of adult historians about whether Abraham Lincoln had views that would now be considered racist. On some occasions as a candidate and president, Lincoln suggested that slaves, even when freed, should not have full civil rights.

Dr. Wineburg urges the use of original sources — letters and speeches — to help students imagine a world whose moral framework was different from today's. Such inquiry, which can engage students, raises problems that even philosophers cannot solve.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/06/education/06LESS.html