Teaching Politics in Secondary Education

Uses data collected from multiple studies to offer recommendations on best practices for use in a polarized climate.

“"Journell combines philosophical inquiry into the importance of political engagement with empirical work in classrooms to present a set of arguments that are rigorous and highly relevant to both scholars and practitioners who care about political teaching and learning." - Joel Westheimer, author of What Kind of Citizen? Educating Our Children for the Common Good”

Wayne Journell is Associate Professor of Secondary Social Studies Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the editor of Teaching Social Studies in an Era of Divisiveness: The Challenges of Discussing Social Issues in a Non-Partisan Way.

Winner of the 2018 Exemplary Research in Social Studies Award presented by the National Council for the Social Studies Many social studies teachers report feeling apprehensive about discussing potentially volatile topics in the classroom, because they fear that administrators and parents might accuse them of attempting to indoctrinate their students. Wayne Journell tackles the controversial nature of teaching politics, addressing commonly raised concerns such as how to frame divisive political issues, whether teachers should disclose their personal political beliefs to students, and how to handle political topics that become intertwined with socially sensitive topics such as race, gender, and religion. Journell discusses how classrooms can become spaces for tolerant political discourse in an increasingly politically polarized American society. In order to explore this, Journell analyzes data that include studies of high school civics/government teachers during the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections and how they integrated television programs, technology, and social media into their teaching. The book also includes a three-year study of preservice middle and secondary social studies teachers' political knowledge and a content analysis of CNN Student News .

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