Opening up the echo chamber: Perspective taking in social science education

Abstract

Abstract
 Public discourse is increasingly polarised when it comes to contemporary political and controversial issues. The debating climate has been described as an “echo chamber” where we tend to find arguments supporting our own established truths rather than having our horizons broadened. Consequently, the challenge of taking the perspectives of others can be seen in classrooms when political discussions and topics surface within social science education. Teaching offers important arenas for deliberation, but class­rooms can be as homogeneous as online filter bubbles, particularly in highly segregated urban school settings. One way of challenging students’ one-sided views is to engage in, and practise, social perspective taking (SPT), a second-order concept engaging with different cultural and ideological understandings of political issues. This study examines two classroom interventions in an upper secondary school with the aim of contributing with empirical data about the components of SPT and how perspective taking can help students broaden their views on political issues. With a starting point in theory on SPT, students’ interactions and reflections in the classroom, collected in written students’ logs and follow-up interviews, are analysed. The results suggest that SPT segments can influence students’ understanding of standpoints other than their own and increase their engagement in class, but that contextualisation is specifically important in this process.
 Keywords: social science education, perspective taking, controversial issues
 
 Att öppna ekokammaren: Perspektivtagande i samhällskunskapsundervisningen
 Sammandrag
 Debattklimatet i samhället har kommit att bli allt mer polariserat och de politiska diskussionerna beskrivs som förda i ”ekokammare” där vi med likasinnade hittar argu­ment för våra egna synsätt, särskilt i kontroversiella frågor. Svårigheterna att ta andra perspektiv än sina egna återfinns också i skolans undervisning, särskilt i ämnen som samhällskunskap där aktuella och politiska diskussioner sker. Undervisningen erbjuder här viktiga nycklar, inte minst att diskutera politiska och kontroversiella frågor i samtal, men klassrum kan vara lika homogena i sin sammansättning som filterbubblor i digitala miljöer. Ett sätt att utmana elevernas förgivettagande är att öva socialt perspektiv­tagande – ett tankeredskap där eleverna i undervisningen tränas på att förstå olika kulturella och ideologiska perspektiv på politiska frågor. Denna studie undersöker två klassrumsinterventioner i en gymnasieklass och syftar till att empiriskt undersöka aspekter av perspektivtagande och hur undervisningen kan formas för att öka elevernas förmåga att skifta perspektiv. Studien utgår från teori kring socialt perspektivtagande och undersöker klassrumsinteraktioner, elevers skrivna reflektioner och uppföljande fokusgruppsintervjuer. Studiens resultat visar att övningar som fokuserar på att skifta perspektiv ökar engagemanget i undervisningen och påverkar elevernas sätt att se på innehållet, men att kontextualisering är ett av de viktigaste inslagen i socialt perspektiv­tagande.
 Nyckelord: samhällskunskapsundervisning, perspektivtagande, kontroversiella frågor

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