‘Critical’ Debate is Not I’m Right; You’re Wrong: Socratic Seminar & the Hybrid Spaces of Teaching U.S. History

Multiple Presenter Session: Panel

Abstract

The purpose of this AESA presentation is to report on an American History and Civics Education, National Activities (AHC-NA) grant through the federal Office of Elementary & Secondary Education (www.oese.ed.gov) for teachers in two SC rural school districts. The grant recognizes US history as a constant process of reconstruction shaped by unequal social realities rather than a fixed, neutral record of facts. By learning to identify subjective stances, silences, and biases in historical interpretations, students become critical consumers and producers of knowledge. The data derives from a summer “travel-study” that is a key deliverable with 40 teachers and USC faculty members. Teachers learn ways to incorporate Socratic seminar (Hess & McAvoy, 2014) into their middle-level and secondary classrooms. The significance of the study is to determine teachers’ comfort level with a critical theoretical perspective and engagement with Socratic seminars to compare and contrast different interpretations of American history and historical events.

Sub Track

• AESA

Presenters

• Susan Schramm-Pate, University of South Carolina

• Kenneth E. Vogler, University of South Carolina