27. Didactics - Learning and Teaching
Paper
External Societal Tensions Which Impact on Students Critical Thinking Development Within Initial Teacher Education
Brighid Golden
Mary Immaculate College, Ireland
Presenting Author: Golden, Brighid
This paper explores a self-study action research project which aimed to identify effective approaches to support students to develop their critical thinking skills within the context of global citizenship education (GCE) in initial teacher education (ITE) in Ireland. The study was guided by a theoretical framework for critical global learning which is used within this study to identify the ways in which the fields of critical thinking and GCE overlap in relation to their purpose, aims, outcomes, and the pedagogical approaches employed when teaching about them in ITE.
The main research question explored in the study was as follows:
What can be learned from a self-study action research project to contribute to the understanding and application of critical global learning for teacher educators?
Furthermore, the study had two objectives which guided data collection and analysis:
- To ascertain the factors which contribute to student motivation, participation and achievement within critical global learning.
- To identify the supports and barriers which impact on implementation of critical global learning.
This paper will explore outcomes from these aims in sharing the external, societal tensions which were found to influence students’ acquisition of critical thinking skills within the contexts of GCE and ITE. The findings from this research are significant within Irish and European contexts as they are presented within the context of my professional role as a member of the DICE (Development and Intercultural Education) Project. The DICE Project has been repeatedly commended for its contribution to progressing GCE within formal education due to its long-standing involvement in ITE in Ireland. In their reporting, the Global Education Network Europe (2015) named the DICE Project to be a model of good practice for mainstreaming GCE in ITE. The research presented in this paper reflects my experiences as part of the DICE Project and builds on what I have learned about embedding GCE into ITE as part of the project.
The critical global learning theoretical framework developed in this study was informed by a wide range of literature in the fields of GCE, critical thinking and ITE which were brought together to present a conceptual framework of the synergies between the three. From a theoretical perspective, this study draws in particular on Freire’s (1974) Critical Consciousness, Boler’s (1999) Pedagogy of Discomfort, and Bourn’s (2015) Pedagogy of Development Education. The components of the resultant conceptual framework draw on these perspectives to offer an interactive approach to teaching which is focused on dialogue, modelling skills and attitudes, sharing challenging content knowledge, and supporting students to engage with and reflect on their learning. To support the development of ‘critical consciousness’ Freire (1974) promotes an emancipatory approach to education which focuses on raising learners’ critical capacity. Furthermore, Boler’s (1999, p.176) ‘pedagogy of discomfort’ which she describes as “both an invitation to inquiry as well as a call to action” echoes Freire’s ambitions for education. The pedagogy of DE developed by Bourn (2015) further echoes the learning from critical consciousness and pedagogy of discomfort through a focus on debating while drawing on personal experiences and wider social and cultural influences. All three prioritise critical thinking as a core component of education. This conceptual framework is further enhanced by an awareness of the opportunities and challenges faced within ITE. The ITE context in Ireland is significant to this research study as the limited cultural, religious, socio-economic, and gender diversity represented in the student body in ITE in Ireland (Heinz and Keane, 2018; Higher Education Authority, 2020; Central Statistics Office, 2017) has an impact on student’s prior exposure to and level of preparedness for engaging with critical global learning in higher education.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedI undertook self-study action research, which is adopted by practitioners interested in studying their own practice with the aim of improving their practice, their understanding of it, and sharing research outcomes. Engaging in self-study research is a form of professional development for educators. Samaras (2011) positions this work as a lifelong process, reminding us that as educators we can engage our skills in questioning, reflecting and ultimately acting to improve our practices throughout our careers. As a research process, self-study enabled me to identify what was working well within my practice and where there were opportunities for further exploration specifically in relation to supporting student’s development of critical thinking skills. Rather than shying away from problems in your practice, self-study allows you to openly ask questions and embark on a process of discovery to identify solutions (Samaras, 2011). Samaras’ (2011) conceptualisation of self-study necessitates engagement with colleagues and research participants, requiring the researcher to draw on sources of knowledge beyond themselves. While self-study legitimises the knowledge educators can generate based on their own practices, the knowledge generated through self-study research is as a result of consultation and critical conversations with others (Russell, 2008). My inquiry into my own practices was undertaken alongside support and engagement from critical friends, my students, and colleagues.
Data collection methods were chosen to help capture not only what was happening in practice, but to try and understand what was working or not in the classroom, and why that might have been so. This approach is typical within the field of action research which is often typified by an informal, less systematic approach to data collection which allows methods to be responsive and specific to the context being explored (Patton, 2002).
The data set included data generated alongside critical friends through recorded critical conversations, emails and written reflections offered by critical friends who observed me teaching. Additionally, data generated with students included recordings and notes from focus group interviews; surveys; Most Significant Change Stories; exit slips from classes; photographs of in class work; post-it notes or worksheets from in class work; and assessments. Variety enabled students to choose the extent of their engagement. These multiple sources of data were underpinned by ongoing written and recorded self-reflections generated by me. The wide variety of data types helped to capture the complex and messy nature of classroom practice and provided multiple sources to aid in triangulation of findings.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThroughout the three cycles of data collection I faced a number of challenges to my practice. One category of challenges related to the impact that external societal influences were having on student’s engagement and learning within the classroom, which this paper focuses on. Some of the challenges which emerged during data analysis related to tensions which were beyond my control as they originated outside of the classroom and related to students personal lives and societal influences. I found that not all students presented with the same levels of readiness to engage in critical global learning. Data revealed a number of reasons for this disparity, highlighting the ways in which students learning was being impacted by factors originating outside of the classroom. The tensions I identified as rooted in external societal influences included:
• Students primed for critical thinking from their background Versus. students unprepared for it;
• Students perception of issues informed by the media and society Versus. perspectives presented in GCE;
• Approach to learning which was successful in second level education Versus. approach to learning promoted in higher education.
While there was limited diversity amongst the student population in terms of ethnicity, religion or gender, there was diversity in terms of their prior life experiences and the impact these had. Students personal histories impacted whether they brought with them a foundation in critical thinking or not. For some students questioning the status quo was something that was not rewarded or encouraged in their personal or educational experiences which made it more challenging to engage with critical global learning. As a result of these findings, an awareness of these tensions and ensuring that in my approach to teaching and learning I am cognisant of broader societal influences became an essential component of my planning and preparation for teaching and learning.
ReferencesBoler, M. (1999) Feeling Power: Emotions and Education, New York: Routledge
Bourn, D. (2015) The Theory and Practice of Development Education: a pedagogy for global social justice, Oxon: Routledge.
Central Statistics Office (2017) Census of Population 2016 - Profile 7 Migration and Diversity [Online]. Available: https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp7md/p7md/p7anii/ [Accessed 1st Dec 2021].
Freire’s (1974) Education for critical consciousness, London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Global Education Network Europe (2015) Global Education in Ireland. The European Global Education Peer Review Process. Amsterdam: GENE.
Heinz and Keane (2018) Socio-demographic composition of primary initial teacher education entrants in Ireland. Irish educational studies, 37(4), pp. 523-543.
Higher Education Authority (2020) 2018/19 Student Demographics, All HEA-Funded HEIs [Online]. Available: https://hea.ie/statistics/data-for-download-and-visualisations/enrolments/student-demographics-2018-19/ [Accessed 1st Dec 2021].
Patton (2002) Qualitative research and evaluation methods. , California: Sage Publications.
Russell (2008) How 20 Years of Self-Study Changed my Teaching. In: KOSNIK, C., BECK, C., FREESE, A. E. & SAMARAS, A. P. (eds.) Making a Difference in Teacher Education Through Self-Study. Studies of Personal, Professional and Program Renewal.: Springer, pp. 3-18.
Samaras (2011) Self-study teacher research: Improving your practice through collaborative inquiry, California: Sage.
27. Didactics - Learning and Teaching
Paper
“But Biology is About Facts…” – Is Handling Uncertainty in Biology Class a Matter of Disciplinary Culture?
Britta Lübke
University of Hamburg, Germany
Presenting Author: Lübke, Britta
Uncertainty has always existed in the world and in human life, a fact brought recently into focus by events such as a global pandemic. Furthermore, uncertainty is necessarily part of scientific knowledge and scientific inquiry. Each research process starts with uncertainty in the meaning of an open question, of something we do not know (Kampourakis & McCain 2020). Sometimes this uncertainty is something we do not know yet, but we will be able to know in the future. Contrary to this epistemic uncertainty, there are phenomena that will remain uncertain in the meaning of an ontological uncertainty (Dewulf & Biesbroeck 2018).
In the context of science uncertainty can differentiated into so-called technical uncertainty that is related to the technical aspects of inquiry in terms of “measurement error, modeling approximations, and statistical assumptions” (Gustafson & Rice 2020, p. 618) and the so-called consensus uncertainty which can be described as “disagreement,” “conflict,” or “controversy” (ibid.) that can take place between “relevant stakeholders […] or within the body of evidence itself” (ibid.).
In the public uncertainty in the context of science is mostly conceptualized as a thread and its communication often has negative impact on the supposed trustworthiness of scientific results (Han et al. 2018). For the context of science education this negative impact is a challenge, since we live in what Beck (2020 [1986]) has called a risk society, education in general should prepare students to make informed decisions in complex and uncertain situations (Christensen & Fensham 2012). From this, one can argue that biology education should offer students learning opportunities about uncertainty in the context of science.
The second framework of this study is the idea of specific disciplinary cultures framing each learning opportunity in class. Lüders (2007) defines a disciplinary culture in the context of schools with references to Higher Education as “a distinguishable, systematically connected context of patterns of thought, perception, and action that emerges from the interaction of various factors.” (ibid., p. 8; translated into English by B.L) A central aspect of her conceptualization is the concept of habitus by Bourdieu (1977), which is understood as “a subjective but not individual system of internalised structures, schemes of perception, conception, and action common to all members of the same group or class” (ibid, p.86).
There is already a lot of research referring to the concept of habitus in general education, school pedagogy and teacher professionalization, i.e. focusing the institutional habitus (e.g. Cornbleth 2010) as well as the habitus of teachers (e.g. Bonnet et al. 2020; Helsper 2018). But by now, there is less research about subject learning (e.g. Heitmann et al. 2017) and none looking on the phenomenon of uncertainty in science education through the lens of disciplinary culture and its specific habitus.
Therefore, this paper investigates uncertainty in two secondary biology classrooms while dealing with bioethical questions with the following research questions:
(1) How does uncertainty occur in the context of teaching and learning about genetic engineering in biology classes?
(2) How do the students deal with the occurring uncertainty?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedTThe data collection took place simultaneously in two biology classes of the 11th grades in the same secondary school. The topic of the 8-weeks-unit was genetic engineering and took place at the end of the first half of the school year.
Designed as a Grounded Theory Study participant observations (including videography of the lessons) were combined with weekly guided interviews (with 10 out of 47 students). The guideline was based on the structure of the problem-centered interview (Witzel & Reiter 2012). Referring to the microgenetic approach (Brock & Taber 2017), weekly retrospective interviews were conducted with ten students about their experiences of and reflections on the previous biology lesson. A total of 36 interviews (30 minutes on average) and 27 videos of students group works during class (20 minutes on average) where analyzed. The combination of videography of the lessons and retrospective interviews with the students allows an analysis on two levels: First the level of classroom practices and second the level of reflection on the lessons and their experiences by the students.
The analyses of this multi-case-study (Yin 2014) followed the coding steps and evaluation procedures (memos, theoretical sensitization, comparisons, coding paradigm) of the Grounded Theory according to Corbin and Strauss (2015). Coding continued until - in the sense of theoretical saturation - no new categories were found in the data material.
In order to identify moments of uncertainty and how students dealt with them in the data, uncertainty was defined as the questioning of something when a phenomenon or object that initially seemed unambiguous becomes ambiguous. Data analysis revealed that this moment is always accompanied by a (sometimes very brief) interruption in the students' flow of action, as they have no prior knowledge or routine to resolve the uncertainty immediately.
The results are presented according to the central categories of the coding paradigm in axial coding. The interpretation of the results with theories about a disciplinary culture of biology represents the result of selective coding.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe results, contrary to what was planned at the beginning of the study, thus do not focus on the students' uncertainty on the content level of the subject matter. Rather, it becomes clear that the central phenomenon in the present data concerning the uncertainty the students' were confronted with is related to the norms of biology class. The moments of uncertainty conceptualized as questioning something, can be divided into (1) questioning norms of action (interaction and decision making) and (2) questioning the (successful) fulfillment of norms by the students. The questioning of the norm fulfillment is shown in the data in the experience of moments of not-being-able-to-finish and not-being-able-to-do-it-right. From the reconstructed uncertainty, students' conceptions of the objects of biology class as well as its goals and adequate modes of action can be derived as the following: Assuming a stable collective biological knowledge, the goal of the lesson is to overcome an individual non-knowing. For this purpose, students can use individual thinking, reproduction and decision-making processes as well as asking questions to the teachers. The (fast) presentation of an answer (in the mode of reproducing already existing biological knowledge) is evidence for a successful achievement of the goal. Already at this point, the results indicate a tension between the norms of the students and the norms of the teaching unit as well as the curriculum. In accordance with the principles of Grounded Theory, to be open to surprising results and to give priority to the data over theoretical presuppositions, the presented results will focus on uncertainty, which is related to the norms of biology class. Therefore, the norms of biology class derived from the results were considered in more detail and will be discussed in the lights of habitus and theories about disciplinary cultures.
ReferencesBonnet, A., Bausell, S. B., Glazier, J. A., & Rosemann, I. (2020). No Room for Uncertainty–curricular and assessment pressures as driving forces for teacher’s action. Zeitschrift für sportpädagogische Forschung, (8)1, 23–44.
Bourdieu, P. (2010[1977]). Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge: Univ. Press
Brock, R. & Taber, K. S. (2017). The application of the microgenetic method to studies of learning in science education: characteristics of published studies, methodological issues and recommendations for future research. Studies in Science Education, 53 (1), 45-73.
Christensen, C., & Fensham, P. (2012). Risk, Uncertainty and Complexity in Science Education. In B. Fraser, K. Tobin & C. McRobbie (Eds.), Second International Handbook of Science Education. Part 2 (pp. 751–769). Dordrecht: Springer.
Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (2015). Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Los Angeles: Sage.
Cornbleth, C. (2010). Institutional habitus as the de facto diversity curriculum of teacher education. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 41(3), 280–297.
Dewulf, A., & Biesbroek, R. (2018). Nine lives of uncertainty in decision-making: strategies for dealing with uncertainty in environmental governance. Policy and Society, 37(4), 441-458.
Gustafson, A., & Rice, R. (2020). A review of the effects of uncertainty in public science communication. Public Understanding of Science, 29(6), 614–633.
Han, P. K., Zikmund-Fisher, B. J., Duarte, C. W., Knaus, M., Black, A., Scherer, A. M., & Fagerlin, A. (2018). Communication of scientific uncertainty about a novel pandemic health threat: Ambiguity aversion and its mechanisms. Journal of health communication, 23(5), 435-444.
Heitmann, P., Hecht, M., Scherer, R., & Schwanewedel, J. (2017). ‘Learning Science Is About Facts and Language Learning Is About Being Discursive’ - An Empirical Investigation of Students' Disciplinary Beliefs in the Context of Argumentation. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 946.
Helsper, W. (2018). Lehrerhabitus [Teacher habitus]. In A. Pasekae, M. Keller-Schneider & A. Combe (Eds.), Ungewissheit als Herausforderung für pädagogisches Handeln [Uncertainty as a challenge for pedagogical practice]. (pp. 105–140). Wiesbaden: Springer.
Lüders. J. (2007). Einleitung: Fachkulturenforschung in der Schule [Introduction: Research on disciplinary cultures in school]. In J. Lüders (Ed.), Fachkulturenforschung in der Schule [Research on disciplinary cultures in school] (pp. 7–14). Opladen: Budrich.
Kampourakis, K. & McCain, K. (2020). Uncertainty. How it makes science advance. New York: Oxford University Press.
Witzel, A. & Reiter, R. (2012). The problem-centered interview: principles and practice. Los Angeles: Sage.
Yin, R. (2014). Case study research. Design and methods. Los Angeles: SAGE.
27. Didactics - Learning and Teaching
Paper
Modelling Trans-disciplinarity in Promoting School Science Education for Societal Development
Tapashi Binte Mahmud Chowdhury1, Jack Holbrook2, Miia Rannikmäe3
1University of Tartu, Estonia; 2University of Tartu, Estonia; 3University of Tartu, Estonia
Presenting Author: Chowdhury, Tapashi Binte Mahmud
Education, is often perceived as having a role in contributing to societal development, in both preparing learners to conceptualise, and enabling them to address sustainability-related issues in the society (OECD, 2018; UNESCO, 2015; United Nations, 2015). In so doing, there is a need for school science education to recognise its role in seeking to resolve societal concerns, not only science-dominated concerns like climate change, or pandemic, but also other prevailing concerns within the society such as social justice or economic transformation (Erduran, 2022; Fernández et al., 2022; Waight et al., 2022). However, science conceptualisation promoted through school alone is seen as ineffective in resolving such societal concerns which deal with complexities, i.e., problems without a straight-cut solution, referred to as wicked problems (van Baalen et al., 2021).
Yet, several literature indicate a major concern with respect to over-emphasis on science disciplinary conceptualisation (Chowdhury et al., 2021; Herman et al., 2017). In line with that, such disciplinary emphasis within school science education has been critiqued, for excluding science learning from inseparable societal affiliations, or even learners’ feelings associated with the learning (Guerrero & Reiss, 2020).
Alternatives of disciplinary framework for school science learning are seen as multi-disciplinary (Perrott, 1980), inter-disciplinary (Tytler et al., 2021) and trans-disciplinary approaches (Caiman & Jakobson, 2022). These three approaches are distinguished based on the teaching of science within, across, and beyond disciplines. However, it has been argued that both multi, and inter-disciplinary approaches yet have a disciplinary emphasis, and does not emphasise the interrelationship of science with society (Alvargonzález, 2011; Daneshpour & Kwegyir-Afful, 2021).
In mitigating against such limitations of discipline-restricted approaches, trans-disciplinarity is seen as offering a societal lens for school science learning, in which the teaching of school science extends beyond the disciplinary boundaries and seeks to address societal concerns through school science learning (Hjalmarson et al., 2020). Hence, this article aims to explore trans-disciplinarity to establish the role of school science education in societal development.
However, there are three concerns associated with trans-disciplinarity in school science education:
First, the term, trans-disciplinarity lacks a sense of clarity. For example, Gero, (2017) perceives trans-disciplinary approach in a school setting as a higher level of interdisciplinarity. Hence, it is not surprising that, STEM or STEAM education is considered both as inter and trans-disciplinary approaches (Liao, 2016; Perignat & Katz-Buonincontro, 2019).
Second, trans-disciplinarity lacks a conceptualisation from science education point of view. Different approaches to literature review has been undertaken within the scope of trans-disciplinarity in arts (van Baalen et al., 2021), or education in general (Daneshpour & Kwegyir-Afful, 2022). Although Takeuchi et al., 2020 conducted a critical review on Trans-disciplinarity in STEM education, their search for literature does not include trans-disciplinarity.
And third, trans-disciplinarity lacks a conceptualisation from school science point of view. Several existing studies explores trans-disciplinary approach in higher education STEM research, for example Shipley et al. (2017), O’Neill et al. (2019) or Slavinec et al. (2019). Although literature recognises the need to promote trans-disciplinarity at a school level science education (Sengupta et al., 2019), Wu et al. (2021) point out a gap of research in school level trans-disciplinary science teaching learning.
Hence, this article aims to address the need for conceptualising trans-disciplinarity from a science education point of view, at school level, so as to attain the need for school science education to address not only students’ individual, or social development, but but also a societal development.
Research Questions:
1. what are the general trends in including trans-disciplinarity in secondary school science education?
2. what are the key attributes of a trans-disciplinarity model of science education at the school secondary level?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedA systematic literature review (SLR) was undertaken in this research. The approach is amplified below:
1. Setting the scope:
The scope of SLR was identified within trans-disciplinary science education in secondary school level teaching and learning.
2. Searching literature within the scope
In this study, the EBSCOhost Web service was used to search articles from several electronic databases (i.e., Social Sciences Citation Index, Scopus®, ERIC, Academic Search Complete, JSTOR journals). The search was conducted on 22 November, 2022.
In establishing the logical relationships between terms in the search, the Boolean search operators (AND, OR) were used (Daneshpour & Kwegyir-Afful, 2022). The keywords used for this search were: TI* (transdisciplinary OR trans-disciplinary OR transdisciplinarity OR trans-disciplinarity) AND SU* (science education OR STEM education OR STEAM education OR science teaching learning OR science pedagogy OR science instruction OR science lesson OR science literacy OR scientific literacy).
From the initial search, 260 articles were identified. After applying four limiters, e.g., peer-reviewed, English language, dated from 2011 – 2022 and full-text availability, the search resulted in 92 articles, among which 89 were from academic journals. After removal of duplicates, 59 articles were selected for full-text reading and addressed against the inclusion/exclusion criteria.
3. Setting criteria for inclusion and exclusion of the literature:
Table 1: Setting the criteria for inclusion and exclusion
Codes Inclusion criteria
I.1 Full-text content must be in English and available for access
I.2 Content must include conceptualisation of trans-disciplinarity
I.3 Research must be situated within science education (also considered STEM, or STEAM)
Exclusion criteria
E.1 Literature without a theoretical or empirical evidence is excluded
E.2 Literature with different titles, but same research content, is excluded
E.3 Research situated within higher level education are excluded
4. Literature selection based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria:
Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, articles were given values of -1 and 1, in which -1 = article did not meet the inclusion or exclusion criteria, and 1 = article met inclusion and exclusion criteria. In cases, where at least one inclusion or exclusion criteria was not met, the article was excluded from the final selection.
5. Reporting of the identified literature:
This SLR followed PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) standards (Page et al., 2021).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsGeneral trends in including trans-disciplinarity in secondary school science education:
a) over the period of last decade (2011-2022), there has been only a few studies which explored trans-disciplinarity within the scope of school science education (n = 16);
b) the authors have identified their studies as theoretical position papers (n = 5), qualitative studies (n = 6), quantitative studies (n = 3), mixed method studies (1), and intervention study (n = 1);
c) majority of the selected research (n = 10) have been conducted in the context of USA, other contexts include Australia and Germany (n = 1), Slovenia (n = 1), Canada (n = 1), Latvia (n = 1), United Kingdom and Italy (1), and Finland (n = 1)
Key attributes of a trans-disciplinarity model:
The findings have indicated that, the key attributes, and the sub-components of trans-disciplinarity are not commonly perceived by all the selected articles with same degree of emphasis. For example,
a) the complexity with respect to the purpose of trans-disciplinarity more commonly perceived (n = 14), compared to the methodologically plural process, required for the implementation of trans-disciplinarity (n = 9).
b) within trans-disciplinary approach, the liberation from disciplinary context is comparatively more mentioned (n = 13) than liberation from the school context (n = 9)
c) trans-disciplinarity is seen as reflecting on both individual and societal transformation (n = 8) by same authors, however, not by all articles (n = 16).
d) the inclusion of teachers and experts from different disciplines (n = 10, and n = 11 respectively) is comparatively more mentioned than the inclusion of societal partners (n = 8)
e) the attribute of transcending education is the least mentioned compared to the other attributes (n = 5 mentioning emotional connotation, and n = 8 mentioning cultural or worldview)
Further findings are intended to be presented during the conference.
This research is funded by the EC Horizon 2020, project no. 952470 (SciCar).
ReferencesAlvargonzález, D. (2011). Multidisciplinarity, Interdisciplinarity, Transdisciplinarity, and the Sciences. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 25(4), 387–403. https://doi.org/10.1080/02698595.2011.623366
Chowdhury, T. B. M., Holbrook, J., Reis, P., & Rannikmäe, M. (2021). Bangladeshi Science Teachers’ Perceived Importance and Perceived Current Practices in Promoting Science Education Through a Context-Based, Socio-scientific Framework. Science & Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-021-00236-9
Daneshpour, H., & Kwegyir-Afful, E. (2021). Analysing Transdisciplinary Education: A Scoping Review. Science \& Education, 1–28.
Gero, A. (2017). Students’ attitudes towards interdisciplinary education: a course on interdisciplinary aspects of science and engineering education. European Journal of Engineering Education, 42(3), 260–270. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2016.1158789
Liao, C. (2016). From Interdisciplinary to Transdisciplinary: An Arts-Integrated Approach to STEAM Education. Art Education, 69(6), 44–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043125.2016.1224873
O’Neill, M., Adams, M. P., Bandelt, M. J., Chester, S. A., Cai, W., & Nadimpalli, S. P. V. (2019). Cohort Learning: Supporting Transdisciplinary Communication and Problem-Solving Skills in Graduate STEM Researchers. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 31(1), 166–175.
OECD. (2018). Preparing Our Youth for an Inclusive and Sustainable World.
Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., Akl, E. A., Brennan, S. E., & others. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. Systematic Reviews, 10(1), 1–11.
Sengupta, P., Shanahan, M.-C., & Kim, B. (2019). Reimagining STEM education: Critical, transdisciplinary, and embodied approaches. In Critical, transdisciplinary and embodied approaches in STEM education (pp. 3–19). Springer.
Slavinec, M., Aberšek, B., Gacevic, D., & Flogie, A. (2019). Monodisciplinarity in Science versus Transdisciplinarity in STEM Education. Journal of Baltic Science Education, 18(3), 435–449.
Takeuchi, M. A., Sengupta, P., Shanahan, M.-C., Adams, J. D., & Hachem, M. (2020). Transdisciplinarity in STEM education: a critical review. Studies in Science Education, 56(2), 213–253. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057267.2020.1755802
UNESCO. (2015). Global citizenship education: topics and learning objectives. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000232993?posInSet=6&queryId=0181080c-49d2-4031-8397-69a5ab1ae31c
United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development. In Resolution adopted by the General Assembly. United Nations General Assembly New York.
van Baalen, W. M., de Groot, T., & Noordegraaf-Eelens, L. (2021). Higher education, the arts, and transdisciplinarity: A systematic review of the literature. Research in Education, 111(1), 24–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/00345237211005799
27. Didactics - Learning and Teaching
Paper
Emotions and Controversial Issues – Social Studies Teachers Considerations of Emotions in Pedagogic Processes
Kristina Ledman1, Anna Larsson2
1Department of Education, Umeå university, Sweden; 2Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Umeå university, Sweden
Presenting Author: Ledman, Kristina;
Larsson, Anna
In today’s Europe there are numerous societal issues that comes across as controversial and are debated from different points of views. Generally, controversial issues are defined as topics or questions where there are opposing ideas about the nature of origin and preferred solutions. On a European level, educational policy stress the importance of teachers dealing with these issues, manifested by for example Council of Europe’s professional development programme to ‘support and promote the teaching of controversial issues in schools in Europe’ (Council of Europe, 2015, p 7). In research literature most definitions of controversial issues encompass emotional, cognitive and evaluative dimensions (e.g. Cooling 2012; Hand 2008; Ljunggren et al. 2015, Stradling 1984). Here, the focus is set on emotions and more specifically emotions in relation to social studies subject teaching in grade 7-9. The study is part of a larger research project about controversial issues in Social studies teaching in Swedish secondary school (e.g. Larsson & Larsson 2021; Larsson & Lindström 2021). In Sweden the school subjects Civics, Geography, History and Religious education has a history of being grouped as Social studies subjects.
Teaching is largely an emotional practice (Denzin 1984; Hargreaves 1998) and we know that teachers find that it is challenging to deal with controversial issues and this can lead teachers to avoid addressing them (e.g Ojala 2019; Anker and von der Lippe 2018, Pollak et al 2018). Even though it is a challenge for the teachers, it is important to help students learn how to engage in democratic dialogue with those holding opposing views (cf Zembylas och Kambani 2012). Within social studies, pupils and teachers engage in topics that allows for controversies of different characters. In this paper, controversial issues in education are understood as situated. That is, situated in relations between teachers and pupils, inbetween students in a context of surrounding community and society, or situated in relation to other objects as material objects, statements, information etcetera (e.g. Blennow 2021). The purpose is to further understand what role emotions play in teachers’ didactical considerations and actions concerning controversial issues in social studies teaching. How does teachers reason concerning pupils emotional expressions? What considerations of the teachers own emotions comes to the fore? The ambition is to deepen the understanding of the teachers’ considerations as a knowing-in-action (Schön 1983) (compare Persson 2022).
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe data analysed for this paper were collected through interviews with 18 teachers, both men and women, actively teaching social studies in secondary school. The teachers were between 25 and 55 years old and had taught for 1 up to 26 years. There were teachers in both small and large schools in small and large cities/villages from anywhere in Sweden and the informants were found via professional and personal networks (convenience sample). In semi structured interviews, the teachers were asked to elaborate on their experiences of occasions perceived as succeeding and failing in dealing with controversial issues in social studies teaching (Lantz 2007). That is, we did not specifically ask how the teachers experience and handle emotions in their teaching. The question concerning the role of emotions was instead formulated in relation to the empirical material, as we saw how emotions were addressed by the teachers in the narration of their practice. The process of analysis can thus best be described as inductive. In the next stage we set out to identify what the teachers expressed concerning their experiences of emotions in their pedagogical practice and didactical reasoning followed by a process of arranging the excerpts in themes. In the analysis, we focused on the statements made by the teachers and did not seek to analyse or categorise each teachers stance. Before the interviews, the teachers were informed of the project and how the information obtained would be stored and used. After having given opportunity to ask question, and to decline participation, they gave their consent. The interviews were transcribed verbatim. In the transcription the teachers were made anonymous and all references to school and the geographic location was removed.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsWhen the teachers adress emotions during the interviews the teachers' focus is predominantly on their pupils Themes that reoccur are that emotions are a resource in social studies teaching as they serve as a vehicle for motivation and interest, and thereby learning, but; also that emotionally loaded views, stances and positions can and should be challenged by increased knowledge about the controversial issue, and finally; that if and how emotional a pedagogical situation becomes is related to the representations among the group of students and to the social context of surrounding local community. The teachers own emotions also plays out in the teachers’ didactical reasoning. The emotions experienced by the teachers are at times explicitly referred to when a teacher explains what he/she does or avoid doing. Being uneasy, or reluctant are emotions that at times makes the teachers avoid a certain content or teaching method. Several teachers describe the importance of being in control of ones’ own emotions and not get in a confrontational situation, which can further radicalise the student. Emotions seem to constitute an integrated and important part of the teachers pedagogic reasoning. However, emotions are also seen as standing in the way for knowledge and constructive situations of teaching and learning. Tentatively, it seems like the teachers find that the emotions can be altered and monitored through knowledge, in the terms of a scientific discourse of rationality that is opposed to emotions.
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