Journalism Education as a Site for Civic Reasoning: Conceptual Change and Moral Resistance

• In Event: Reimagining Pedagogies for Democratic Citizenship

Abstract

This study examines journalism education as a site for civic reasoning (Lee et al., 2021). The authors collaborated to implement a journalism unit in secondary school classrooms in British Columbia. The unit was designed around the principles of critical digital literacy (Mirra et al., 2018). Thirty-one students (ages 15-18) participated over the course of the 2021 – 2022 academic school year. This analysis focuses on ways in which student journalism investigations led to different types of conceptual change (explanatory logic and self-implication). Additionally, we explore how students enacted moral resistance in their narrative design choices, which led to pedagogical questions and future ideas. Conceptual change and moral resistance are two important components of civic reasoning.

Authors

• Robyn Ilten-Gee, Simon Fraser University
  Presenting Author

• James Francom, Van Tech Secondary
  Presenting Author