Conceptualizing Emotions in Social Studies Education

Abstract

This review of research investigates how the field of social studies education conceptualizes emotions within its literature. Analysis indicates a lack of theoretical and empirical engagement with emotions, even when the presence of emotions is explicitly acknowledged. Drawing on Michalinos Zembylas's framework for researching emotions in education, the authors reveal multiple conceptions of emotions undergird research and practice, yet these are largely unexamined in the literature. The complicated nature of emotions requires careful attention, and attempting to understand the roles they play in teaching and learning provides significant opportunities for growth in social studies research and practice.It is difficult to ignore the contentious rhetoric that currently frames the local and national political discourse in the United States. In political debates, media reports, tweets, and Facebook updates, Americans are bombarded with venomous and personal attacks made by politicians, reporters, pundits, and friends. How can we, as social studies educators and researchers, prepare teachers, influence curriculum and education policy, and teach students how to meaningfully engage in reasoned deliberations regarding the common good in such a divisive and contentious climate? At the heart of this question is a desire to better understand how we, as citizens and community members, can talk about and better understand our differences. Yet, as the current political Correspondence should be sent to Maia Sheppard, 148 Sheppard et al.climate makes abundantly clear, this is a difficult task. Strong attachments to our values and beliefs, discomfort with uncertainty, and fear of losing power seem to propel us further away from understanding and rational engagement with difference. Emotions play as significant a role in this movement as reason. This complex relationship between emotion, power, identity, and social interaction led us to wonder what roles emotions play in social studies education. And, more specifically to this research, how have we as a community of social studies educators and researchers engaged with or taken account of the role of emotions in teaching and learning social studies in secondary schools and teacher preparation?Stemming from this desire to better understand the relationship between emotions and teaching and learning social studies, this review of the literature in social studies education aims to better understand how those in the field have conceptualized and researched emotions. Our analysis of this literature reveals a significant level of interest in issues (such as empathy and controversy) with strong connections to emotions but a lack of rigorous theoretical or empirical attention to conceptualizing emotions and their role in these issues and in social studies education more broadly.Our interest in how emotions are conceptualized in social studies research and practice stems from our experiences as classroom teachers and work as educational researchers. We have individually and collectively re...

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