The Concept Development Instructional Strategy: Radical Potentials for Complicating Static Truths in a Post-Truth Era

• In Event: 66.082 - Creating a Continual Cycle of Justice-Oriented Citizens: Examining the Use of Inquiry Learning in Pre-K–16

Abstract

In the post-truth/post-fact era, public education has the potential to provide students (as citizens in a democracy) with the critical skills, not only to decipher truth from fiction, but also, with an orientation towards the values that uphold a democratic ethos. Education holds the potential for shaping justice-oriented citizens (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004a). This study analyzes concept development as an instructional method with the radical potential for unraveling the construction of knowledge in order to recognize its inherently political nature.
At its heart, concept development relies on the twin premises that knowledge is both discursive and political. Knowledge is developed in a sociocultural context in which "we are in a struggle both to construct reality and to circulate that reality as widely and smoothly as possible throughout society " (Fisk, 1989, p.149-50). The boundaries defining concepts, being social constructs themselves, are unstable and rely on political, social, economic, and other factors (Parker, 2008).
If concepts are practiced, not by definition, but rather through a fluctuating social understanding, then they should be taught as such (Smagorinsky, et al, 2003). The concept development strategy is much more than a method of content delivery. Teaching for (Parker & Hess, 2001) concept development allows students to participate in the understanding and eventual unraveling of the social constructs often presented as static. (Vygotsky, 1987). This process of inquiry is a crucial skill in practicing democratic citizenship, particularly around the development of knowledgeable and discerning voters, contributors, and consumers (Gutmann, 1987).  
This small-scaled qualitative study was designed as action research (Lesko et al., 2008). When I began teaching social studies methods courses, I found students expressing a love/hate relationship with the concept development, and this made me curious to investigate what warranted such extreme sentiments about a social studies method. This study was conducted using data from a social studies methods course taught in the summer of 2012. As part of the class structure, after each instructional method taught, students were expected to participate in a reflective writing exercise and reflective conversation. After teaching concept development, the same was required of students, and these two tasks served as data sources.
Pre-service teachers overwhelmingly expressed that the concept development method held tremendous value, as many of them explained its inherent rigor in deconstructing knowledge. However, pre-service teachers also expressed immense frustration in the process of creating the lesson plans because they began to face self-doubt as to their own understanding of concepts.  Ultimately, the findings of this study reveal the problems and potentials in teaching concepts and social phenomena as slippery and ever-changing ‘truths’.
Throughout this paper, I argue that concept development is incredibly important in teaching for social justice because it allows students to lift the veil on the simplistic dichotomy of truth versus fiction and pushes students to instead ask: Why is our knowledge constructed in the way it is? Whose interests are being served? Is this valuable? Teaching students to ask these questions will help shape justice oriented students for a thriving democracy.

Author

• Natasha Hakimali Merchant, University of Washington Bothell