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Social Studies Teaches Critical Thinking and Civil Discourse
Kyle Ward and Tryg Throntveit are co-teaching a pilot course at Minnesota State Mankato titled “Third Way Civics.” Ward is the Director of Social Studies Education at Minnesota State Mankato. Throntveit is a global fellow and Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Minnesota Humanities Center. Together they are providing a unique experience for social study teacher candidates and others, asking “What does it mean to live in a democracy?”
Student logged into their D2L Brightspace account for the HIST 430 course.
Ward and Throntveit have created this course to serve as a model for other universities across the country. The course uses a lot of primary sources with guiding questions to engage the students in the history of democracy in the U.S. Course activities and discussion are used to prompt students to find opportunities to grow as citizens of democracy—for themselves and their future students.
Third Way Course Overview:
“What is the nature of our democratic system? And how should we, the people, act to sustain its best features and remedy its flaws? These are hard questions, made harder by deep divisions in American society. This course seeks to put those divisions in context and turn them into opportunities for individual and collective growth: growth among the students who take the course and, by extension, in the peer groups, dormitories, workplaces, hometowns, and other communities they animate and shape through their actions.” While the coursework asks students tough questions about how people should act to sustain and repair democracy, it also creates a space for students to turn potential divisive perspectives into opportunities for learning and growth.
“We provide a lot of primary sources of documents and major thought canons. Then we guide students through discussion and debate. We don’t want a cable screamfest,” said Ward. It is Ward and Throntveit’s hope and expectation these students will take those lessons out to their homes, workplaces, and communities. The pilot course is only one of the many opportunities provided for social studies teachers at Minnesota State Mankato. Since 2016, social studies students and teacher candidates have opportunities for international student teaching, unique summer institutes, and study abroad programs.
Brett Pederson, ‘18, teaches history at Eden Prairie High School. He was part of the first international student teaching cohort in Norway. The experience showed him first-hand how U.S. politics are monitored around the world. Pederson said, “High school students had a sleepover at the school to monitor results of the 2016 presidential election.” In addition, Pederson said Ward’s influence on him to make sure his students feel they belong in the classroom, their work is meaningful, and they can be successful were pivotal in motivating him to work hard to teach a balanced and unbiased review of history.
Pederson was instrumental in revamping his school’s U.S. history curriculum. “We wanted to teach history from the people’s perspective—those who are often underrepresented—rather than from the power and wealth perspective,” he said. They replaced multiple choice tests and 90-minute lectures with historical simulations, writing, collaboration, and lively discussions.
“I also integrate current events into my courses weekly. Students need to find one article a week. The source doesn’t matter as long as the student is willing to acknowledge the potential media bias,” said Pederson. “I teach students not to take everything at face value, to use their critical thinking skills.”
Exercising their critical thinking and civil discourse skills are exactly what Ward and Throntveit are asking of their students in the Third Way Civics pilot course. Both are vital to maintaining a democratic society.
118 Armstrong Hall Mankato, MN 56001
Remembering their wives through Elementary Education legacy gifts.
To honor the love their spouses had for teaching and students, two widowers recently gifted a combined $2.4 million to support students pursuing their teaching dreams. The widowers are honoring their spouses who graduated in the early 50’s and 60’s and pursued the same career dream to nurture the love of learning through teaching. These generous financial gifts will keep making teaching dreams come true for generations to come through future educator scholarships.
To make a gift to the College of Education, contact Kristen Dulas at kristen.dulas@mnsu.edu or 507-398-1381.
