A former middle and high school social studies teacher, Dr. Conklin’s teaching and research are anchored by commitments to democratic, humanizing, and justice-oriented teaching, learning, and teacher education. Her teaching aims to engage students in practices that model these commitments, with an ultimate goal of supporting thoughtful decision-makers who can contribute to a more socially just and ethical society—particularly through social studies education. Dr. Conklin’s teaching is continually informed by research she has conducted on the design of teacher preparation experiences, the impact of these experiences on teachers’ practices and their students’ learning, and youth learning from civic education. Most recently, she has been exploring the possibilities of empathic listening as a civic practice for creating a more just, inclusive, and connected democracy. She has published her research in academic journals and also written Op Eds about this work in media outlets including The Atlantic, Time, Newsweek, and The Washington Post. Her research has been funded by the Spencer Foundation, the Brinson Foundation, and a National Academy of Education-Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Education
- PhD in Curriculum and Instruction, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- MAT in Secondary Social Studies/History Teaching, Brown University
- BA in Sociology/Anthropology and Education, Swarthmore College
Courses Taught
- A&S 843 Politics of Schooling
- HON 207 The Design of Learning Environments
- TCH 422 Inquiry and Application in Developing Secondary History and Social Sciences Pedagogy
- TCH 472 Teaching History and the Social Sciences in High School I
- TCH 482 Teaching History and the Social Sciences in High School II
- T&L 419 Curriculum and Strategies: Social Studies
Research Interests
Teacher preparation; pedagogy of teacher education; civic and democratic education; social studies curriculum and instruction; middle grades education.
Selected Publications
Conklin, H., Lo, J., McAvoy, P., Monte-Sano, C., Howard, T., & Hess, D. (2021). Pedagogical practices and how teachers learn. In C. Lee, G. White and D. Dong (Eds.).
Educating for Civic Reasoning and Discourse, (pp. 353-396). Washington D.C. National Academy of Education.
https://naeducation.org/civic-reasoning-and-discourse/
Andolina, M. and Conklin, H. (2021). Cultivating empathic listening in democratic education.
Theory and Research in Social Education, 49(3), 390-417.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2021.1893240
Conklin, H. (2020). The preparation of novice teacher educators for critical, justice-oriented teacher education: A longitudinal exploration of formal study in the pedagogy of teacher education.
Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice. 26(7-8), 491-507.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2021.1889497
Andolina, M. and Conklin, H. (2020). Fostering democratic and social emotional learning in action civics programming.
American Educational Research Journal, 57(3), 1203-1240.
https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0002831219869599
Conklin, H., Gatti, L., and Matsko, K.K. (2019). Teaching toward which ends? Residency candidates navigating competing programmatic aims. In J. Brewer and C. Lubienski (Eds.).
Learning to teach in an era of privatization: Global trends in teacher preparation. New York: Teachers College Press.
Conklin, H. (2018). Caring and critical thinking in the teaching of young adolescents.
Theory into Practice, 57(4), 289-297.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2018.1518643
Andolina, M. & Conklin, H. (2018). Speaking with confidence and listening with empathy: The impact of Project Soapbox on high school students.
Theory and Research in Social Education, 46(3), 374-409.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2018.1435324
Zeichner, K. & Conklin, H. (2016). Beyond knowledge ventriloquism and echo chambers: Raising the quality of the debate on teacher education.
Teachers College Record, 118(12), 1-38.
Conklin, H. (2015). Preparing novice teacher educators in the pedagogy of teacher education.
Action in Teacher Education, 37(4), 317-333.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01626620.2015.1078753
Conklin, H. (2014). Toward more joyful learning: Integrating play into frameworks of middle grades teaching.
American Educational Research Journal, 51(6), 1227-1255.
https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831214549451