Politics, Partisanship, and Media in the Trump Era: Impacts on Teachers, Teaching, and Youth Engagement

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium examines how the current political and media context is impacting and influencing teacher engagement with contemporary issues and how young people engage in civic action. While political polarization and heightened levels of populism have emerged over the past two decades, these issues have increased significantly since 2016, and have been fueled in large part by media and social networks. Four papers explore the ways in which media and local political contexts have impacted teachers, teaching, and youth civic engagement. Issues focused on include impacts on engaging with controversial issues, on classroom discussion of issues, on sources of news media used in the classroom to inform discussions of these issues, and how young people view and share political information.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Social Studies Research

Chair

• Kevin W. Meuwissen, University of Rochester

Papers

• It Depends on the Situation: Census Data, Google Analytics, and Teaching During the 2018 Midterms - Jeremy D. Stoddard, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Paul G. Fitchett, University of North Carolina - Charlotte; Karl Vachuska

• Political Alignment Between Teachers and Communities: A Comparative Case Study of Teaching Controversial Issue - Rebecca Cooper Geller, University of Georgia

• Social Studies Teachers' Willingness to Address Controversial Current Events - Christopher H. Clark, University of North Dakota; Mardi Schmeichel, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; H. James Garrett, University of Georgia

• "People Can Get Really Harsh": Supporting Youth Engage With Contemporary Issues Through Social Media - Ellen Middaugh, San Jose State University; Mark K. Felton, San José State University; Henry Fan

Discussant

• Diana E. Hess, University of Wisconsin - Madison