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Developing thoughtful, responsible, active citizenship by exploring controversial topics with a grade 9 class : a teacher's journey

University of British Columbia

This study originated in response to a change in my teaching position. As a teacher new to secondary social studies, who transferred from the elementary ranks in the school year 1995-1996,1 was intrigued by the rationale of the Social Studies 8-10 Integrated Resource Package which was stated as "the overarching goal of social studies is to develop thoughtful, responsible, active citizens who are able to acquire the requisite information to consider multiple perspectives and make reasoned judgments", but I wasn't sure how to implement it. I needed to clarify what "responsible, active citizenship" might involve and what "thoughtful" meant in this regard. Furthermore, how would I teach students the ability to make reasoned judgments? A second question was inextricably linked to the first, although it arose in a different way. I quickly found that I enjoyed discussing controversial topics with secondary students, but was unsure of how to promote discourse as opposed to shouting matches. Additionally, I wondered how to teach skills of reasoned inquiry and how we might resolve issues of injustice in a hopeful manner? I decided to investigate my own practice in regard to these questions. My teaching journal, student work, and some audio taped evidence, were the primary sources of data for the study. I first share my research into concepts of democratic citizenship best promoted by a public school system. Next, I outline how I developed a teaching unit, utilizing aspects of the Shared Learnings curriculum, that focused on controversial topics. Third, I share the experiences in teaching that unit, and the reflections that ensued as I did so. Finally, I look at the changes that resulted in my social studies teaching and the possible implications for other educators. Generally, I conclude that teaching the skills of philosophy, in combination with discourse and an ethic of care, can promote active, responsible citizenship even in young secondary school students. I encourage other educators to explore similar avenues for themselves, and their students.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-07-29

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/11488

Curriculum Studies

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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