Strategies for Teaching Difficult Topics: A Systematic Literature Review

• In Event: From Bearing Witness to Teaching Consciousness: Instructional and Curricular Approaches to Teaching "Difficult" Topics

Abstract

This review of research investigates the empirical scholarship on strategies used to teach difficult histories and difficult knowledges within the field of social studies education. Guided by critical conceptualizations of discourse, our analysis revealed that while several teaching strategies were employed to teach difficult histories, strategies for addressing or challenging white supremacism as part of the difficult history or knowledge were rarely used. The authors offer some ways to reframe teaching strategies to orient teachers toward more directly addressing the ways in which white supremacism contributes to teaching and learning difficult histories and knowledges.

Authors

• Kim Edmondson, University of Alberta

• Brittany Jones, University at Buffalo - SUNY