Journal of Social Science JSSE Education : Journal of Social Science Education : ..................................... ................... ..................................................... .............................. : .............. .... Journal of Social Science Education Volume 13, Number 2, Summer 2014 DOI 10.2390/jsse-v14-i2-1373 Jennifer Bruen, Tilman Grammes Editorial: The Social Sciences in Higher Education How we see ourselves as teachers is just as important as the competence and insight that we develop over time. It is crucial that as teachers in Higher Education we reflect on and update our practice, monitor and develop our own professional impact, and draw on evidence and research in order to inform our practice. (Slowey, Kozina, and Tan 2014, 8) Keywords: social sciences. Furthermore, most of the discourses Specialised Didactics [Fachdidaktik], Higher Education, within the cited journals are located within a US context Transformative Learning, Bildung, Learner-Centred of college education (Nilson 2003). Thus, it is the inten- Pedagogy, Critical Pedagogy, Citizenship Education, tion of JSSE at this point to shift the focus to European Documentation and Description, Critical Incidents, discourse on Social Science Education. As such, this issue Lesson Study builds on a previous issue of JSSE (2009-2) in which the focus was on the training of teachers in the social 1 sciences including those involved in the teaching of PART I: Towards specialist didactics [Fachdidaktik] for civics, politics and economics. In particular, JSSE 2009-2 the social sciences in the Higher Education classroom. focused on developing the concept of specialized didactics (or Fachdidaktik) for the social sciences in 1 Introduction teacher training. The purpose of this issue is to continue Specialized journals examine the teaching and learning of this debate and the process of developing principles the social sciences in Higher Education. These include, for which would form the core of such specialized didactics example, the highly regarded Teaching Sociology, or, designed to improve the learning experience of students more recently the Journal of Political Science Education, engaged in the study of the social sciences. Journal of Legal Education and International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education, to name but a few. These journals capture a significant amount of know- 2 “Bildung” and transformative learning ledge and experience. However, there is little coherence The classical German understanding of the term Bildung in terms of research and a lack of a well-developed can be equated with the notion of the transformation of academic sub-discipline around Higher Education in the the learner through education or “transformative lear- ning”. The process of transformation [Bildungsprozess] Jennifer Bruen is a Lecturer and differs significantly from the process of learning. Accor- Director of Research in the School ding to Hans Christoph Koller (2011), current Chair of the of Applied Language and German Educational Association (Deutsche Gesellschaft Intercultural Studies, Dublin City für Erziehungswissenschaft www.dgfe.de), while learning University. Her research interests can be seen as the acquisition of new information, include language policy, language transformation or Bildung is a higher order form of teaching and learning, and political learning which involves a change in the way in which and citizenship education. School information is processed. Bildung involves a fundamental of Applied Language and transformation of the whole person, or what Pierre Bourdieu refers to as a change in the socialized norms Intercultural Studies, Dublin City University, Dublin Ireland that guide behavior and patterns of thought [Habitus- email: [email protected] wandel], and not just the acquisition of particular competencies. Of significance is also the stimulus for the Tilman Grammes is Chair of process of Bildung. It can be viewed as a form of reaction Educational Science/Social Studies to a crisis as a critical incident [fruchtbarer Moment] Education at Hamburg University which poses new challenges which cannot be adequately and Editor of JSSE. dealt with by existing means. Transformation is Research interest among others: associated with what is foreign, what is new and un- comparative and intercultural known, what has not been previously experienced, and education, qualitative research. as such disturbs the “taken for granted” perspective and University of Hamburg, Faculty of Education Science , FB 5 Von-Melle-Park 8 20146 Hamburg, Germany email: tilman.grammes@uni- hamburg.de 2 Journal of Social Science Education ©JSSE 2014 Volume 13, Number 2, Summer 2014 ISSN 1618–5293 the epistemological framework of everyday knowledge. Wendt and Cecilie Ase of the Department of Education In other words, transformation or Bildung results from and the Department of Political Science, Stockholm engaging with discomfort and dissonance (Koller 2011; University, in Sweden. In their contribution, Liberal see also Ricken and Maaschelein 2010). Liability: Understanding students’ conceptions of gender structures, Murstedt et al focus on students’ pre- 3 Reflection on teaching and learning using case-study conceptions and conceptions of gender structures. Their research interest lies in the learning processes at work when According to the recent OECD Institutional Management students engage with course content which has a gender in Higher Education study on quality teaching, the vast perspective. In particular, they consider the influence of majority of initiatives intended to support teaching any pre-conceptions regarding gender equality and quality address institutions’ needs at a given point in inequality on such learning processes.2 time while initiatives inspired by academic research are Operating within a conceptual change framework, rare (Hénard 2010, p. 5). This is regrettable. Clearly, Murstedt et al consider students’ attempts to offer short-term practical needs must be addressed. However, alternative interpretations of media images of male and changes in teaching and learning should also be research- female politicians based on explanations other than a informed if they are to result in longer term benefits. structuralist gender perspective, which focuses on Therefore, a core principle of specialized didactics for the gender-based, structural social inequalities. Murstedt et social sciences in Higher Education concerns the need to al note in their findings that their students frequently empower teachers in the social sciences to gather lose sight of the structuralist perspective in their group information relating to their own teaching, reflect on it discussions. Instead, they operate within a liberal and communicate the results to their peers. In other paradigm interpreting some of the images as represent- words, it relates to a need to enable teachers to view tative of individual discrimination, individual personality their teaching and its impact on their students as or demographics, or individual choice, rather than as a research and to investigate and document it accordingly. reflection of social norms and structures. Murstedt et al This is a particular strength of all four contributions to suggest that the automatic adoption of a liberal the first section of this issue. framework impedes interpretation from a structuralist perspective. They recommend explicit teaching about 4 Exploring experimental methods: Simulating reality both frameworks in order to enable students to conduct In their paper, Professor Yu-Wen Chen, of the Graduate analysis from more than one perspective. This is an School of Public Policy, Nazarbayev University, approach supported by Louise-Lawrence (2014) who Kazakhstan, and her co-researchers, Lena Masch and grapples with similar issues in her classroom and makes Kristin Finze, explore the value of “dictator games” or similar suggestions in terms of the refinement of more generally the use of simulations in postgraduate pedagogic practice in gender studies. teaching. Chen observes and reports on the impact of Enhancing the ability of the social sciences student to their use of such methods to investigate the possible view issues from multiple perspectives should be a existence of discriminatory tendencies among non- further key element of specialized didactics in this field. It Muslims in Germany towards Muslims. Chen argues at has perhaps been more developed in the political the outset that such experimental methods have distinct sciences to date than in other areas of social science advantages over other research methods. Specifically, education. This is evidenced by use of methods in this this paper documents the experimental design, data field such as Structured Academic Controversy or collection, data analysis and report writing processes and Structured Controversial Dialogue in the classroom to assesses the learning outcomes associated with such an enable students to view issues from different angles, to approach. Recommendations as to how the approach engage in informed debate and to reach reasoned might be used to even greater effect conclude the article. consensus (D’Eon and Proctor 2001; Hahn 2009; For classroom games in economic education see Bostian Moloney and Pelehach 2014; Zainuddin and Moore and Holt 2013. 2003). These approaches are gradually being adopted in other disciplines in the social sciences, however, inclu- 5 The learner as a point of departure ding, for example, in the teaching and learning