Jordan Fullam

Socratic Teaching and Critical Thinking: Fullam's research explores the pedagogy of group discussion, questioning, and critical thinking. During his experience as a high school teacher, Fullam taught critical thinking to high school students and created the documentary film “Why Philosophy?” to capture students’ experiences of learning to “do philosophy” through reading and group discussion. Fullam has since produced three instructional videos to capture different approaches to Socratic teaching in primary and secondary classrooms. In addition, he published a theoretical paper, “Listen then, or, Rather, Answer: Contemporary Challenges to Socratic Education,” in which he explores the problems and possibilities of Socratic questioning in Plato’s texts, current research on Socratic teaching, and contemporary practice.

Educational Equity and Advocacy: Fullam engages in research aimed at connecting scholarship to educational equity and advocacy. His research in this strand explores the potential of critical pedagogy, mindfulness education, culturally responsive teaching, and restorative practices in the work of transforming schools to address issues of equity and social justice. Fullam produced the documentary film, “Restorative Justice at Arcadia High School,” to capture how teachers and students can use restorative circles to explore questions of culture, build community, and strengthen relationships in schools. Fullam's research in this area also acknowledges that implementing equity reforms often requires support from grassroots political organizing, since grassroots organizing places pressure on policy-makers to respond to the needs of students and families in historically underserved communities. For example, Fullam published a qualitative study, “Becoming a Youth Activist in the Internet Age: A Case Study on Social Media Activism and Identity Development,” in which he explores how youth used social media activism to advocate for equitable school funding in Newark, New Jersey.

Instructional Video: Fullam also uses instructional video and education filmmaking to advocate for innovative and transformative teaching practices. Providing the theoretical foundation for this work with digital video, his paper “From Seeing to Believing: Using Instructional Video to Develop Culturally Responsive Teaching” (1) recounts his experiences using instructional video to train teachers in using Socratic and restorative circles to transform the culture and community of their classrooms, and (2) makes the case that practitioners often need to see transformations in teaching and learning before they can believe such transformations are possible. Fullam has produced four instructional videos and four education documentary films. He continues to engage education filmmaking as a kind of digital scholarship to advocate for educational practices that are appropriate for a diverse democratic society.