“What is civil discourse and how do we do it?”: Leveraging Strategies from Social Studies Teachers in Turbulent Times

Abstract

This empirical research contributes to a more current and comprehensive understanding of the realities and challenges facing social studies practitioners who engage their students in civil discourse and critical thinking about current social and political issues, based on data collected in the months just before the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. This qualitative case study draws from focus group interviews, 1:1 interviews, and a content analysis of curricular materials with eight secondary social studies teachers in public schools of varying demographics and contexts across Tennessee and Florida to learn more about how teachers in states with restrictive laws are engaging their students in critical thinking and civil discourse in times of increasingly restrictive educational policies and parental rights movements. Findings illustrated methods, practices, and activities that encapsulate learning as social under my analytical framework of social constructionism. Through culturally responsive classroom environments, engaging students in civil discourse, student-centered learning, and decisions aimed at protecting students in various ways, both participants and students present opportunities to co-construct knowledge with one another and apply it to learning and to an overall understanding of social studies content. I argue that there are effective methods through which to engage students in such discussions and in the larger practices of critical thinking and civil discourse that both push students and protect them, and that these methods are adaptable based on school and community contexts. This study presents both scholarly and practical implications for social studies teacher preparation, as programs can more effectively equip their preservice teachers with tools to teach in critical and subversive ways, tailored and adapted for specific contexts with varying levels of oversight and pressure.