Teaching From the Heart: Three Portraits of Social Studies Teachers’ Approaches to Teaching the History of South Sudan’s Conflict (Poster 37)

• In Event: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

The presentation will focus on teachers' pedagogy and how they teach the history of South Sudan’s conflict. Bickmore (2004) suggests that there are two types of curriculum: explicit curriculum (the formal curriculum visible through written textbooks and learning materials) and implicit curriculum (the lived curriculum, including pedagogy, school disciplinary practices, and systems of governance). My paper focuses specifically on the implicit curriculum. It uses Johan Galtung’s theories on violence and peace (1969; 1990) to gain a deeper understanding of the pedagogical strategies employed by teachers and their potential implications for promoting peace in school classrooms in South Sudan. I draw on portraiture (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 1997) to portray each teacher’s experiences, teaching, motivation, and values behind their work. To better understand the teacher's pedagogical practices and the implicit curriculum, I offer a typology based on Galtung’s theory and recent updates to the theory (Paulson & Tikly, 2023). The paper draws on a segment of data from my dissertation project with the focal teachers, 21 interviews, 28 classroom observations, and 250 general observation hours.

Author

• Orelia Jonathan, Harvard University