As a social science teacher your role is to teach the complexities of society and the interaction between individuals with society. A complex and contentious interlink, that cannot be taught without coming into contact with controversial and sensitive issues. It has been often argued even with in the teaching of Sociology whether or not sociological research can be value free (******), this is a debate that is also in the minds of sociology teachers, can sociology and similar subject be taught from a value free stance, however given the nature of social science subjects such as sociology, citizenship, politics and history, it is inevitable that teachers in such fields will be faced with dealing with controversial issues, it is however the way in which teachers handle this feat and what methodologies they put in place.
To effectively answer the pose assignment title, it is vital to explore firstly, what is meant the term controversial issues, what makes and issues controversial, secondly it is then important to explore through the surrounding literature the roles teachers have adopted in these situations, mainly exploring the debate on whether teachers should remain neutral when teaching these contentious issues. Lastly, the aim is to then pin point the methodology that educationalists have cited as benefit to teaching controversy within the classroom setting. Alongside the literature, this essay will also address some examples of personal in practice experience of dealing with controversy during the school experience placements.
Ingredients for controversy
Reviewing the literature surrounding the teaching of controversial issues, it is evident that defining controversial issues in its self can be contentious and there is ...
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...ore controversy into the lessons. A prominent example of this was when covering beliefs in society with an A level class; the topic was science verses religion. I did use thought provoking resources including an interview by Richard Dawkins with Atheist Ricky Gervais (Sex death and the meaning of life, 2012), however as cited by Emerson (2012; P11) there are other factors which influence the teaching of controversial issues, one factor ever present in the first school experience placement was the school ethos. This particular school has a Catholic ethos, therefore ultimately, as a teacher within that school I had to respect this ethos, which was particularly difficultly when exploring issues such as Atheism and science as a belief system. Regardless of these external influences, the topic is on the AQA specification for Sociology and therefore must be covered.
S., & Bedau H. (Eds.) Current issues and enduring questions: a guide to critical thinking and argument, with readings. (pp.551-552). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
... analyze historical significance without me telling them what to think. This way the students could possibly see the argument in a more tangible way, see how and why the two sides differed, and both sides’ basis of justification. The students could then independently decide which side they actually favor.
Throughout history, especially when a new country is formed, there are many controversial issues. These issues come up when not everyone agrees on how the country should be run. In the United States, especially in the early years, there were various issues. These issues split the United States into 2 political parties. In the early 1800’s, these 2 parties were the Democratic Republicans and the Federalists. Democratic Republicans believed in a strong state government. The Federalist believed in a strong central government. Some of the issues they disagreed on were ratification of the Constitution and the purchase of the Louisiana Territory.
same thought, “oh no, here we go again.” Why is religion in our preparatory schools such a touchy topic? Teachers would rather not address religion or they carefully tip-toeing around the topic? While attending Big Bear High School (a typical southern
The subject of religion in public schools is one that has been debated vigorously and passionately. The warriors from the Right and Left fail to appreciate the facts because they are caught up in the rhetoric and have difficulty viewing this emotional topic dispassionately (Haynes, 2011). Both sides are right about one thing: this is an important subject.
Sociology is something I didn’t know about until I took this class. This class introduced sociology to me. I learned about how society basically made boys supposed to like blue and girls supposed to like pink. Sociology is “the systematic or scientific study of human society and social behavior, from large-scale institutions and mass culture to small groups and individual interactions” (Ferris and stein 2014: p9). Sociology is not something you just learn when you are just born. You learn about sociology throughout your life. Sociology is displayed around things such as being around different environments, friends, and family. Education is a sociology idea that can examine a person’s class and schooling. The higher the education you have,
During the 60’s and 70’s, people have thrashed out with their words and each other. This caused some awareness in schools due to the offensiveness of the matter. During the 80’s schools began on focusing on preventing this kind of speech on their campuses. Since then, students have become more and more sensitive in a negative way. The authors used an example of a kid shouting “Shut up, you water buffalo” at an Israeli born student. That incident made national news, just for calling another kid a “water buffalo.” Another example is when a university found a student guilty of racial harassment for reading a book honoring student opposition to the Ku Klux Clan. The picture on the cover of the book offended one of the student’s co-workers. Just because the student was reading a book, minding his own business, the student was punished from the university. Never said anything or hurt anyone physically, and his education was ruined by someone taking offense to a book he was reading. The authors used this extreme example to prove that accepting the fact that student are fragile and letting them be fragile is not the right way to go and the past can prove
Good Times is an American sitcom that starred a poor, African-American family, the Evans, living in the projects of south side Chicago in the 70s. The show followed the everyday lives of the family as Florida and James Evans raised their three children-- Thelma, JJ, and Michael. Good Times touched on real controversial issues of the time with humor from an African-American standpoint. Topics such STD’s among young people, gun violence, crime, adoption and many more were subjects brought to the homes of fans. It has been nearly 40 years since Good Times last aired, and the problems addressed on the show are still prevalent today. These matters have remained of concern over the years and although progress has been initiated there is still a long road towards improvement in society through change.
The idea of incorporating sociology in the public school system seems innocuous. Actually, to the empowered class, it is very dangerous. It upsets the security of the wealthy if those individuals living in poverty receive the knowledge that their position in society is a constant dialogue rather than a fixed destiny. The system in place has failed those without the resources to fully participate; to some degree this is an intentional measure to maintain the status quo. This inequity is allowed to continue because most individuals do not possess the sociological imagination fully to perceive this injustice. If sociology were taught in all schools, people could understand the full weight of systemic injustice in society, and opportunity and greater equality would follow.
Social science helps society bond our personal situations with our everyday life. This is shown through many topics such as sociological imagination and politics. Sociological Imagination is all about knowing the connection between personal experiences and society. Politics is what creates society. Studying these topics had brought a better idea of what social science is and how it impacts on me as a member of
The purpose of this reflective essay on the debate is to analyse my team and my own personal learning style and experience of participating in the debate and in the preparation period - that started in week 7 with the mock debate - by structured and based on Honey and Mumford’s Learning Styles theory, and examine some ideas for my future practice.
Before I started taking the course of sociology I wasn’t really expecting to learn anything, it was just supposed to be an easy online class. However, that was not the case. It challenged my mind. I started to see sociology all around me, starting with family, then friends, and how I see things overall in general. The fact that we have an everyday life in which there are patterns in ways of living is what sets a platform for a sociological breakdown and for being a part in what we do. A better way of understanding ourselves. We use sociology in many ways every day. One central and important study of sociology is the study of everyday social life. Everyday life and sociology are definitely two different words and situations, but they tend to hold a close relationship. While sociology is the study of the human interaction, everyday life consists of everyday human interaction. Everyday life is filled by human beings interacting with one another, ideas, and emotions. Sociology studies the interactions with all of these and shows how mere interaction resulted in things such as ideas. For an example, race and ethnicity are important concepts in the field of sociology and are ones that are studied a great deal. Race plays a large role in everyday human interactions and sociologists want to study how, why, and what the outcomes are of these interactions. Current sociological theories focus mainly on how there are many different factors in our everyday items of life, like movies. We were assigned a final to write a review for a movie in sociological form. The movie that was on the list that also happened to be one of my favorite movies, Toy Story. When we were assigned the assignment, I never thought about how in-depth it was with sociol...
To Quote Anthony Giddens: "Sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies. It is a dazzling and compelling enterprise, having as its subject matter our own behaviour as social beings. The scope of sociology is extremely wide, ranging from the analysis of passing encounters between individuals in the street up to the investigation of world-wide social processes“(1989). Gidden’s statement describes sociology as a study that helps us understand our own behaviour as human beings in a social word. Sociologist study everything from the interaction between people in the street to the interaction between different countries. Sociologists aim to study how societies have changed over, how societies are structured and organized, the norms of society. It’s also important to understand that not all sociologists agree with each other, Sociologists often debate with one another to prove/disprove certain theories and concepts. By studying Sociology is it helps us analyze social conflicts on a micro and macro scope. Through a macro level, we can study large-scale social organization and large social categories it also examinees social processes and patterns society as a whole. We can analyze individuals much deeper on a micro level. This way we study a human by face-to face interactions. Its important as humans to understand the way our society came together and the reasons to how elements work and function together. Sociology gives us a deeper
In the educational philosophy of social reconstructionism, learning takes place through both affective and psychomotor experiences. Since the majority of subject matter will be hard for many students to comprehend due to its intensity and honesty, students will need to develop strategies for dealing with discussions on controversial issues. In order to be best prepared to hold discussions about these issues, students will need to understand that there are multiple perspectives and beliefs on each topic discussed (Philosophical Perspectives in Education). These affective experiences result in a variety of learning taking place, including increasing one’s perspectives in inquiry, dialogue, and multiple perspectives through learning about other
When starting this course, I was introduced to the main questions surrounding the field of Social Studies Education: What is Social Studies? Why and How should we teach it? From this class I have been able to understand each of these questions and how they interplay with one another, in order formulate my own thoughts on each. This combination of these questions ultimately defines why I feel I would be a good candidate to teach Social Studies. When coming to a conclusion regarding what the topic of social studies is, I realized that ultimately, it’s about people. The way people interact, alter their landscape, build systems of government, and shape the current society from past events. Each of these different human actions, it defines a specific