Thinking Deeply, Thinking Emotionally

How High School Students Make Sense of Evidence

Bibliographic Data

ID11071191
AuthorsRebecca Jacobsen (0000-0002-6637-617X, Michigan State University, corresponding author), Anne‐lise Halvorsen (0000-0001-5427-6254, Michigan State University), Anne-Lise Halvorsen (Michigan State University), Amanda Frasier (0000-0001-5870-1799, Michigan State University), Amanda Slaten Frasier (Michigan State University), Adam Schmitt (Michigan State University), Adam J Schmitt (Michigan State University), Margaret Smith Crocco (Michigan State University), Margaret Crocco (Michigan State University), Avner Segall (Michigan State University)
Year2018
Volume46
Issue2
Pages232-276
Publication date2018-04-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTheory & Research in Social Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0093-3104 • E-ISSN: 2163-1654
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00933104.2018.1425170
OpenAlexW2792218524
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited65

This mixed-methods study analyzed adolescents’ evaluation of the trustworthiness of different kinds of evidence and their reasons for why they trusted (or did not trust) them. Specifically, we analyzed adolescents’ rankings of seven kinds of evidence in the abstract and in the context of a settled historical event (school desegregation) and whether differences existed between their rankings. We explored the reasons adolescents provided for trusting or not trusting sources and whether differences existed between these reasons in the abstract and in context. We also explored whether rankings differed across sociocultural identities. We found that, on average, adolescents’ rankings, as well as their reasoning, differed when the evidence was presented in the abstract versus in the context of school desegregation. We also found that emotion and personal relationship with the topic are compelling factors in determining students’ trust in sources—a finding that has previously been overlooked in the scholarship. This study provides implications for K–12 social studies education, teacher education, and civic identity and citizenship studies

Citizenship · Context (archaeology · Desegregation · Developmental psychology · Identity (music · Political science · Scholarship · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Trustworthiness · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Psychology · Social Psychology · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies