Fostering Preservice Teachers’ Transformative Learning in a Social Studies Methods Course: A Reflection on Transformative Pedagogy

Abstract

Using a qualitative research design, this study examined the impact of a course that utilized transformative pedagogy to foster preservice teachers’ transformative learning in a social studies methods course. The study was framed around the construct and practice of transformative education and pedagogy. Transformative pedagogy was defined as an activist pedagogy that combines the elements of constructivist, critical pedagogy, multiculturalism and practices that promote dialogical relations, engage and empower students as critical inquirers, participatory, active, and self-reflective learners who confront their prior beliefs, perspectives, frames of reference and attitudes in order to foster the development of critical consciousness, visions of possibilities, and action. Drawing on multiple sources, the data revealed that participants evidenced transformative learning such as follows: (a) deepened perspectives and new understanding of social studies; (b) shifting dispositions and awareness of a new sense of responsibility; (c) evolving self-examination and redefinition of teaching role, and (d) emerging sense of social critique and conscientization. Finally, the article discusses practices of key elements of transformative pedagogy that foster transformative learning such as a community-based learning context, experiential learning activities and project, reflective journaling, modeling, and scaffolding.

Case Study Involving Art Integration Supports Social Studies Content Learning and Creativity

“…The traditional social studies classroom is teacher-centered with little to no opportunity for student engagement and application of such 21 st century skills as creativity (Burstein, 2014;Foster & Padgett, 1999;Kahn, 2017). However, more student-focused social studies teachers attempt to improve this situation through inquiry-based instruction that turns a learner into an active participant and a leader of his/her learning, resulting in a significantly deeper content and conceptual understanding (Busby & Hubbard, 2007;Ukpokodu, 2007).…”

“…In turn, the state of flow includes the following characteristics: deep immersion in the task; being intrinsically motivated by the internal sense of reward; clear, self-determined goals intense focus on the task; feeling of control over the process and outcome; disappearance of selfconsciousness and fear of failure; immediate feedback; loss of sense of time; and deep feeling of enjoyment of the process (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008). All of these characteristics not only foster creativity but are likely to enhance inquiry-based social studies instruction that aims at helping students become active leaders in their learning and active participants of society (Busby & Hubbard, 2007;Ukpokodu, 2007).…”

Perspectives on Transitions in Refugee Education

“…Using what Ukpokodu (2007) called an "activist pedagogy" (p. 315), the program provided opportunities for the adolescent girls to engage with and reflect on their lived challenges, and to take control of their own lives. By using active (Fernando & Marikar 2017;Ukpokodu 2007) and dialogic (Freire 1993) strategies to build problem-solving capacities, the program addressed social issues, such as child marriage, identified by Chakraborty (2019), El Arab and Sagbakken (2019) and Mourtada et al (2017) as high risk.…”

“…Scenarios put the adolescent girls into an imaginary social environment where they were given the opportunity to see what it would be like to be in another's shoes and to feel their feelings, and then to reflect on those vicarious experiences. In Mezirow's (2000) terms, creating these experiences is a form of transformative learning that assists the conceptual understandings of the learners (Ukpokodu 2007). Fernando and Marikar (2017) argued that "learning is an active experience" (p. 110), and each of the strategies used by the peer educators helped to create active experiences.…”

Body image(s): Problematizing future physical education teachers’ beliefs about the body and physical activity through visual imagery

“…In this sense, a critical pedagogy is needed which is based on an educational focus on social change and the reduction of inequalities which in this particular case can support the importance of the body within the development of the human being and value the relationship between the body and personal identity, posing a criticism toward traditional models of PE, in which, for instance, bodily performances (Tinning, 2010) or sports techniques are prioritized (Kirk, 2010). Ukpokodu (2007) further argues that to make possible a change in students’ beliefs and values, a transformative pedagogy must be adopted, thus empowering personal and social change. Within the field of PE, the recent term transformative PE also emerges as an important and relevant approach to train future PE teachers from a critical orientation (Tinning, 2017; Tinning et al, 2016).…”