Navigating “big feelings” in teaching and learning difficult histories: Pedagogical reasoning about students’ emotional potentialities

• Rebecca L. Rosen ^[1] ; Kevin W. Meuwissen ^[2]
  1. [1] Princeton University

     Princeton University

     Estados Unidos

     
  2. [2] University of Rochester

     University of Rochester

     City of Rochester, Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Theory and research in social education, ISSN 0093-3104, Vol. 53, Vol. 4, 2025, págs. 595-623
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • This qualitative study describes how seven middle-level and secondary social studies teachers engaged in pedagogical reasoning and decision-making in anticipation of students’ emotional potentialities when studying difficult histories. Findings indicate that participants’ primary considerations related to students’ cognitive- and affective developmental trajectories, as well as their individual and cultural identities and commitments. Related to the spaces in which students learn, teachers considered social-interactional conditions in their classrooms and the cultural characteristics of the communities in which their schools exist. The article reveals specific ways in which teachers think through and act in response to challenges associated with students’ emotional engagement when teaching difficult histories, including evaluating social-interactional and individual emotional risks among students when learning about difficult subject matter and judging what distinguishes emotional responses that foster constructive interaction from potentially harmful responses that might interfere with learning.