Exploring the Role of Social Media as a Teaching Resource and Intermediary in the Wake of Political Trauma

• In Event: Teaching and Engaging With Students' Emotions as They Navigate Social Media

Abstract

Objective
On January 6th, 2021, school children across the United States witnessed an historic event --live footage of thousands of people descending upon the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the counting of electoral votes in the U.S. presidential election, resulting in documented acts of violence and death. In this presentation, we explored the following research questions: 1) what did teachers perceive to be their students’ needs within the classroom following January 6th, 2021, and 2) what social media resources did teachers use to support their students in addressing such needs?

Perspective
While educators have begun to develop and promote civic identity development curricula and trauma-informed resources with the aim of better preparing students to be informed citizens (Cole et al., 2009; Jagers et al., 2019; Seider et al., 2017), many states and districts have been slow to implement such curriculum (Journell, 2022). Thus, there is a notable gap between the empirical research generated and what is being used in actual practice. In this paper, we explore the role of intermediaries (with a specific focus on social media) in the transfer of knowledge between those who produce research evidence (e.g., researchers) and those who may utilize it (e.g., educators) (Gagnon et al., 2019; Neal et al., 2021).

Methods & Data Sources
An online survey was distributed in July of 2021. Participants, varying in political orientation, were recruited through online teacher support groups via Facebook, Twitter, as well as emails to colleagues in education. Seventy participants completed the survey. This study focuses on open-ended text-based survey questions. Teachers represented a range of demographics, political orientations, teaching experience, and school/community contexts.

Results
Teachers noted that students expressed a range of concerns surrounding the event. Such concerns included a desire for critical discourse in understanding the root causes of the event (i.e., systemic racism), as well as fear for personal safety and the future of democracy. News and social media were the most frequently cited resources leveraged within the classroom. Social media sources varied greatly, as some teachers reported sharing posts from the rioters. Others described accessing prompts and discussion questions through online educator support groups. Teachers also expressed concern about being perceived as pushing a political ideology when identifying social media resources to bring into the classroom.

Scholarly Significance
Findings illuminate a need to offer evidence-based social media resources and support networks to educators in order to affirm, engage, and facilitate enriching and meaningful conversations with their students in the wake of traumatic political events. To improve educators’ access to and use of research-based resources, key intermediaries (i.e., social media platforms) can benefit from partnerships with schools and districts, as well as each other. Support for brokering such research has to attend to the complex multi-level political environments that teachers operate in.

Authors

• Mariah Kornbluh, University of Oregon
  Presenting Author

• Amanda Davis
  Presenting Author

• Alyssa Hadley Dunn, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kristina Brezicha, Georgia State University
  Non-Presenting Author