La empatía como elemento para la adquisición del pensamiento histórico en alumnos de bachillerato. Un estudio de caso centrado en la Guerra Civil española y el franquismo

This paper focuses on the analysis of the acquisition of historical empathy, one of the dimensions of the so-called historical competences, by a group of students of 2nd Baccalaureate from an educational centre in the Region of Murcia. From the realization of an evolutionary role play set in the Civil War and Franco, a descriptive study has been carried out with qualitative methodology in which the data obtained in various instruments (stories prepared by students and one questionnaire), have been analysed to try to assess the level of acquisition of that dimension of historical thinking. In this case, although the results endorse the effectiveness of the program (75% of students reach a medium or high level of empathic understanding), they also denote that the implications for improving student academic performance are relative.