War and violent conflict as a topic in teaching of psychology: What is there in the literature? What web-resources are there?
Hi everyone,
here I post the start for a collection of commented list of literature and web resources. Please share your favorite resources (together with a short comment on how you recommend using it).
In the following, some examples of what the literature offers on war and violent conflict as a topic in teaching of psychology are briefly reviewed to help initiate discussion and material collection in this forum
Relate current events to topics covered
Surveying students Huston and Michelle DiPietro (2007) document that students are irritated when teachers go on with class without mentioning the event. Teaching on the day something terrible happened, diverse spontaneous actions seemed welcome.
Gurstelle et al. (2004) as well as Nelson and Christie (1995) provide brief hints (usually one paragraph per issue) how current events/permanent threats of war/terrorism can be related to different domains in psychology programs such as: Biological bases of behavior, Consciousness, Developmental Psychology, Learning, Methods/Statistics, Motivation/Emotion, Perception/Cognition, Personality, Psychopathology, Social Psychology. While Gurstelle et al. focus on the issue that events have to be handled in class, Nelson and Christie also deal with affecting values and acquiring (conflict resolution) competencies in class.
Dedicated courses covering backgrounds and action orientation
Linda Woolf (Howe, 2004) underlines that it is << always important to provide students with the tools for positive action. These courses can be depressing if not balanced with knowledge and skills aimed at prevention as well as active participation in activities to make the world a better place. >>
Farrell and Taylor (2017) provide checklists on steps/points to plan and make explicit in a class on trauma. They list of verbal responses to common incidents in such a classes. They cover grounding techniques to apply when closing trauma psychology teaching sessions.
Robert Gaschler
Farrell, D., & Taylor, C. (2017). The teaching and learning of psychological trauma—A moral dilemma. Psychology Teaching Review, 23(1), 63–70.
Gurstelle, E. B., Heinzen, T. E., Makarec, K., De Oliveira, J. L., Holle, C., & Campbell, E. M. (2004). Helping students in introductory psychology process terrorist attacks. Psychology Learning & Teaching, 3(1), 40–47. https://doi.org/10.2304/plat.2003.3.1.40
Howe, T. R. (2004). Lessons learned from political violence and genocide in teaching a psychology of peace: An interview with Linda Woolf. Teaching of Psychology, 31(2), 149–153. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15328023top3102_10
Huston, Therese A., & DiPietro, Michele. (2007). In the eye of the storm: Students perceptions of helpful faculty actions following a collective tragedy. In D. R. Robertson & L. B. Nilson (Eds.) To Improve the Academy: Vol 25. Resources for faculty, instructional, and organizational development. Bolton, MA: Anker. Pp. 207-224.
Nelson, L. L., & Christie, D. J. (1995). Peace in the psychology curriculum: Moving from assimilation to accommodation. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 1(2), 161–178. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327949pac0102_5
Web resources
Linda Woolf: http://faculty.webster.edu/woolflm/
Council of Europe, Education in Times of Crisis: https://www.coe.int/en/web/education/education-in-time-of-crisis
Vanderbilt Center for Teaching on Teaching in Times of Crisis: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/crisis/
Division 48 of APA, Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence: Peace Psychology Division: http://peacepsychology.org/resources-university-teaching