Social Domain Theory (Nucci, 2008). Social domain theory examines the development of children and adolescents social knowledge within three areas: moral, social-convention, and personal. We are most interested in the moral and social-conventional domain. The theory asserts a person undergoes cognitive changes in their moral (ideas regarding fairness and equality) and social-conventional (agreed upon social norms) understanding and reasoning through social interactions. These cognitive structures are developed through developmentally-appropriate generative discussions and trans-active dialogue most through the interrogation of historical and literary dilemmas. Importantly questioning must reflect the domain addressed, such as when dealing with a dilemma regarding fairness and justice, the accompanying discussion questions should be focused on how the individual’s rights or welfare may be infringed upon rather than the social norms that are violated.
Critical History (Aldridge). This resource guide will also be framed with critical history lens. Thus this guide will highlight the perspectives of historically marginalized groups and employ methods such as oral history to when trying to understand their stories (Historians such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Richard Hofstadter, and Howard Zinn are considered practitioners of this approach). According to historian Derrick Aldridge, critical history “dig[s] beneath the surface of events and phenomena using critical theoretical interpretative frames to interrogate and challenge traditional canons.”
Together, these two broad theoretical perspectives create a space which merges cognitive-developmental science with critical consciousness to promote social action for teachers and students.