Leyla and Mahmood - Emotions in Social Science Education

Suggesting a framework for students’ academic perspective-taking in secondary social science education

“…While this article aims at making a theoretical contribution to the literature on students' perspective-taking in social science education, the suggested framework can be further developed: other theoretical perspectives might challenge or add to the suggested connections and it may be adapted to suit specific thematic areas of the school subject such as those addressed in previous studies (e.g., Andersson, 2018;Blennow, 2018;Olsson, 2021). Moreover, empirical research is needed to answer several remaining questions.…”

“…The educational context includes the overall purpose of the lesson or period, the topic and content students are working with in the subject and the specific group of students involved. Using the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine (hereafter: RiU) as an example of an international conflict typically addressed in social science education (e.g., Blennow, 2018;Olsson, 2021), this could for example entail exploring European politics and Russian and Ukrainian societies (context); diverse views of the invasion, such as the different concerns of authorities, business interests, and international aid organisations as well as the views of students themselves (different perspectives); and acknowledging that students are subjected to gruesome images and constant news of war in news and social media, affecting them in different ways (affective connection). This view of academic perspective-taking is illustrated in Figure 1.…”

“…His review of research showed that most relevant studies of students' perspective-taking had been conducted within history education. Similarly, I argue that several studies within social science education directly or indirectly point to the need for further theoretical and empirical insight into how perspective-taking is or can be facilitated in the social science classroom for students to develop their understanding of the present-day society they are a part of (e.g., Andersson, 2018;Blennow, 2018;Mathé, 2020;Olsson, 2021). For example, Olsson (2021) found few examples of students combining individual and structural perspectives in their interpretations of current events and pointed to the challenge of designing teaching that contributes to students' ability to identify and understand perspectives that are not explicitly addressed in the media.…”

“…Another example comes from Andersson (2018), who found that certain types of teaching business economics hindered, while others facilitated, a sensitiveness to the interests of others related to sustainability issues. Finally, Blennow (2018) addressed the importance of perspective-taking related to understanding minority perspectives and the role of emotions in the social science classroom and argued that disciplinary perspectives are not sufficient when it comes to teaching contested subject matter. That is, social science education requires a sensitivity to political and affective aspects of perspective-taking, since understanding and discussing social science issues involves values, priorities and different notions about problems and their solutions.…”

Diskurser och dilemman i gymnasieskolans samhällskunskapsundervisning

“…På så vis bidrar skolan och undervisningens utformning till elevernas positionering som en enhetlig grupp, som skiljer sig från samhället i övrigt. Blennow (2018) har i en etnografisk studie fokuserat känslors betydelse i samhällskunskapsundervisning. Blennow visar hur elevernas känslor får betydelse i samhällskunskapsundervisningen, då eleverna själva har erfarenhet av exempelvis krig och hur det påverkar upplevelsen av undervisning kring t.ex.…”