Brian Gibbs
Biographic Data
| ID | 5429155 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Brian Gibbs |
| GIVEN NAMES | Brian |
| FAMILY NAME | Gibbs |
| SIGNATURE | GIBBS B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| ORCID | 0009-0005-0921-2792 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 6 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 13 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
“They tell us we can change the world but never teach us how”
This manuscript describes a case study that uses data from focus group interviews examining two texts, Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience and King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail as well as individual interviews to surface and center student perspectives on the role of teaching students to be social and political activists as part of the social studies curriculum. Students reacted to both texts strongly and engaged in thoughtful animated discussions of…
“Wait…They were Gay?”
‘So… like I’m responsible for ending war?’
Primary Objective This study examines student reaction to a unit of instruction teaching war through a more critical lens focusing on anti-war movements and how student sense of civic agency was impacted.Research Design A design study that centered student voice on activism and experiences of a unit of instruction of the USA at war. Design study was used to surface student experience, understanding and perspective.Outcomes and Results Students ga…
Complications of the Righteous
Taken from a larger, longitudinal multi-case study examining the decisions and choices (pedagogically and professionally) of early career social studies teachers this article analyzes and describes a single case study using the theoretical frameworks of Teaching Like an Activist and The Pedagogy of Teacher Activism. This article describes the pedagogical and curricular choices Ms. Jane, the teacher, makes during her first two years of teaching mi…
We Need to Talk about This More”
This article describes two Socratic Seminar discussions, one focused on questioning just war and the other offering a perspective on how to end war. These discussions are the focus of this article because they show the complex and nuanced thinking and questioning students engaged in about what might constitute a just war (if anything) and how war can be ended by determined humans. Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported…
“So my grandfather’s two tours meant nothing?”
This manuscript describes the implementation of a co-created (teacher and researcher) unit of instruction focused on the teaching of war. This unit examines war through a critical lens and emphasizes anti-war movements. A design study this research investigated how the teaching of war as difficult knowledge can impact student sense of critical civic literacy and civic agency. Focused by two essential questions—What is a just war and how do we end…
“Strange Fruit”
Drawing from data from a multicase study, I examined how teachers teach current racial violence and for racial justice in rural school spaces in the U.S. South. Using abolitionist teaching and trauma-informed pedagogy as theoretical lenses, I argue that racial violence and racial justice can be taught well even in schools in complex political, social, and ideological communities. Teachers need to assume racial trauma in all students, connect the …
My eyes were closed the entire trip, but now they are open wide
This article is a fictionalized testimonio describing a child's crossing into the United States and her continued crossing into a political and activist high school student. The details of the story were told to me many times in conversations, writing assignments, and in discussions with her parents. Using some of her words and phrases, and with her permission, I have written the facts of the story into an imagined narrative. Taking inspiration f…
Patriotism, Pressure, and Place
This article focuses on how civic agency is taught or not taught by a social studies teacher to the children of soldiers in a largely conservative community and, as a result, how it was learned or not learned. Taken from a larger study investigating individual teacher curricular and pedagogic choice around teaching war near a military base, this article examines the sociopolitical, district-level, student, parent, and community pressures and tens…
Teaching and Learning about Controversial Issues and Topics in the Social Studies
Rigor for What?” Social Studies Teacher Conceptions and Enactments of Instructional Rigor
Taken from a larger qualitative study, this article argues that rather than an encompassing uniform definition, rigor, as understood and enacted by social studies teachers, exists on a complicated spectrum. Teacher placement on this spectrum was influenced by teacher life experience, teacher interpretation of student need, pedagogy employed, how content should be used, and the role of the teacher in the lives of students. How rigor is conceived a…
Shattering the illusion of control
The illusion of control refers to a phenomenon whereby people believe their chances of success at a task are greater than would be warranted by objective analysis. This article raises two questions. First, how robust is the illusion of control? Second, how might the illusion be ‘shattered?’ Previous experimental demonstrations involved situations that can be likened to unique or single‐shot gambles. If, however, the phenomenon is robust, it shoul…
The reviewing of object files
Patriotism, Pressure, and Place
This article focuses on how civic agency is taught or not taught by a social studies teacher to the children of soldiers in a largely conservative community and, as a result, how it was learned or not learned. Taken from a larger study investigating individual teacher curricular and pedagogic choice around teaching war near a military base, this article examines the sociopolitical, district-level, student, parent, and community pressures and tens…
We Need to Talk about This More”
This article describes two Socratic Seminar discussions, one focused on questioning just war and the other offering a perspective on how to end war. These discussions are the focus of this article because they show the complex and nuanced thinking and questioning students engaged in about what might constitute a just war (if anything) and how war can be ended by determined humans. Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported…
Rigor for What?” Social Studies Teacher Conceptions and Enactments of Instructional Rigor
Taken from a larger qualitative study, this article argues that rather than an encompassing uniform definition, rigor, as understood and enacted by social studies teachers, exists on a complicated spectrum. Teacher placement on this spectrum was influenced by teacher life experience, teacher interpretation of student need, pedagogy employed, how content should be used, and the role of the teacher in the lives of students. How rigor is conceived a…
The reviewing of object files
Shattering the illusion of control
The illusion of control refers to a phenomenon whereby people believe their chances of success at a task are greater than would be warranted by objective analysis. This article raises two questions. First, how robust is the illusion of control? Second, how might the illusion be ‘shattered?’ Previous experimental demonstrations involved situations that can be likened to unique or single‐shot gambles. If, however, the phenomenon is robust, it shoul…
Teaching and Learning about Controversial Issues and Topics in the Social Studies
Rigor for What?” Social Studies Teacher Conceptions and Enactments of Instructional Rigor
Taken from a larger qualitative study, this article argues that rather than an encompassing uniform definition, rigor, as understood and enacted by social studies teachers, exists on a complicated spectrum. Teacher placement on this spectrum was influenced by teacher life experience, teacher interpretation of student need, pedagogy employed, how content should be used, and the role of the teacher in the lives of students. How rigor is conceived a…
Patriotism, Pressure, and Place
This article focuses on how civic agency is taught or not taught by a social studies teacher to the children of soldiers in a largely conservative community and, as a result, how it was learned or not learned. Taken from a larger study investigating individual teacher curricular and pedagogic choice around teaching war near a military base, this article examines the sociopolitical, district-level, student, parent, and community pressures and tens…
My eyes were closed the entire trip, but now they are open wide
This article is a fictionalized testimonio describing a child's crossing into the United States and her continued crossing into a political and activist high school student. The details of the story were told to me many times in conversations, writing assignments, and in discussions with her parents. Using some of her words and phrases, and with her permission, I have written the facts of the story into an imagined narrative. Taking inspiration f…
“Strange Fruit”
Drawing from data from a multicase study, I examined how teachers teach current racial violence and for racial justice in rural school spaces in the U.S. South. Using abolitionist teaching and trauma-informed pedagogy as theoretical lenses, I argue that racial violence and racial justice can be taught well even in schools in complex political, social, and ideological communities. Teachers need to assume racial trauma in all students, connect the …
“So my grandfather’s two tours meant nothing?”
This manuscript describes the implementation of a co-created (teacher and researcher) unit of instruction focused on the teaching of war. This unit examines war through a critical lens and emphasizes anti-war movements. A design study this research investigated how the teaching of war as difficult knowledge can impact student sense of critical civic literacy and civic agency. Focused by two essential questions—What is a just war and how do we end…
We Need to Talk about This More”
This article describes two Socratic Seminar discussions, one focused on questioning just war and the other offering a perspective on how to end war. These discussions are the focus of this article because they show the complex and nuanced thinking and questioning students engaged in about what might constitute a just war (if anything) and how war can be ended by determined humans. Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported…
‘So… like I’m responsible for ending war?’
Primary Objective This study examines student reaction to a unit of instruction teaching war through a more critical lens focusing on anti-war movements and how student sense of civic agency was impacted.Research Design A design study that centered student voice on activism and experiences of a unit of instruction of the USA at war. Design study was used to surface student experience, understanding and perspective.Outcomes and Results Students ga…
Complications of the Righteous
Taken from a larger, longitudinal multi-case study examining the decisions and choices (pedagogically and professionally) of early career social studies teachers this article analyzes and describes a single case study using the theoretical frameworks of Teaching Like an Activist and The Pedagogy of Teacher Activism. This article describes the pedagogical and curricular choices Ms. Jane, the teacher, makes during her first two years of teaching mi…
“They tell us we can change the world but never teach us how”
This manuscript describes a case study that uses data from focus group interviews examining two texts, Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience and King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail as well as individual interviews to surface and center student perspectives on the role of teaching students to be social and political activists as part of the social studies curriculum. Students reacted to both texts strongly and engaged in thoughtful animated discussions of…
“Wait…They were Gay?”
Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy (10 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Pedagogy (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Mathematics education (5 works) · Critical Race Theory in Education (4 works) · Epistemology (4 works) · Global Education and Multiculturalism (4 works)