Wednesday, October 25, 2023 2 pm to 4 pm
About this Event
2900 South University Drive, Fort Worth, TX 76109
Whether it’s in classrooms or at dinner tables, discussions about injustice can provoke emotionally-laden responses from those resistant to seeing the part they play in those injustices. This workshop will explore how to persist despite discomfort, drawing from educational research on worldview threat and defense (e.g., van Kessel et al., 2022). This session will include key ideas and classroom-tested tools as well as scenario activities and discussion. By the end of this workshop, participants will leave with knowledge of what worldview defense looks like as well as strategies to prevent or mitigate those defenses, including an open educational resource with posters, videos, and classroom activities.
Participants will:
1. learn key concepts and processes about worldview threat and defense from existential social psychology,
2. learn key classroom strategies derived from research applying those concepts in university settings in both Canada and the United States, and
3. co-create example situations of worldview threat and defense in university classrooms and how the tools from the session could be employed.