Project Investigator(s): Tara Mayer, Instructor, Department of History
Project Description
This project examines student responses to historical controversy. The literature about engaging with controversial issues in the classroom is inconclusive. Some studies suggest that it can be divisive and make both students and instructors ill at ease, while others regard it as key to teaching critical thinking. The question of how to best address controversy is especially acute for History instructors, since much of the human past is conflictual and because students often feel personally invested in particular historical narratives about their nations, origins, religions, entitlements, or plights. This project seeks to explore these issues and to evaluate different approaches.
Research Question
1. How do students perceive, assess, and respond to unresolved historical controversy?
2. Is historical controversy itself a useful learning device, or does it actually serve to obscures the material and issues at hand?
Impact on teaching and learning at UBC
The project is intended to (1) provide the basis for a more expansive SoTL project that will assess the teaching of historical controversy across different subjects and by different instructors; (2) stimulate more structured exchanges between instructors about addressing historical controversies in the classroom (e.g. through a department-sponsored workshop); (3) produce results that may of interest to instructors in other disciplines that regularly deal with profound unresolved controversies (Social Justice, Religious Studies, First Nations, etc).