Teacher Decision Making in the Social Studies: Examining "What to Teach?" Through a Psychoanalytic Lens

• In Event: Millennium Hotel Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Humanizing Curriculum Across the Content Areas

Abstract

This study examines social studies teacher decision-making in curriculum construction. Data sources are semi-structured and think-aloud interviews. I will analyze them through a psychoanalytic theoretical lens, focusing on teachers’ interactions with difficult knowledge, uncertainty, and conflict while thinking through historical narratives, making curricular choices, and interacting with ambiguous historical photographs. Implications for preservice and in-service teacher education are emphasized.

Author

• Peter Nelson, Michigan State University