How do we teach students to think well about international politics?
aka a revision of my "teaching philosophy"
“The Middle East is a region where a lot happens yet very little changes,” a colleague at a Washington, D.C.-based think tank once conveyed to me. The Spring 2024 campus protests against Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip challenged university administrators, teachers, and scholars alike to consider the bounds of appropriate discourse around contentious issues at the university. Aside from fitting within my research agendas, these protests also represent a fitting case study at a smaller scale for the challenges and opportunities I confront in the classroom. How should teachers facilitate conversation and learning surrounding contentious issues in a highly polarized environment?
As an assistant professor of political science at Utah State University, I teach courses about international relations, U.S. foreign policy, and Middle East politics at the undergraduate and graduate level. My interest in the region emerged during my sophomore year in high school after the al-Qaeda attacks against the United States on September 11th, 2001. Since beginning my university teaching career in 2013—and my start at USU in August 2020—three primary goals inform my work in the classroom:
Equip students toward building an evidence-based worldview capable of interpreting reliable information to make critical judgements about international politics.
Develop a “toolset” of critical thinking skills consisting of a series of heuristics for determining who or what to trust, and under what conditions.
Model the value of integrating academic studies into one’s core identity, values, and life goals.
Explore contentious issues beyond the classroom by building and strengthening relationships based on curiosity, charity, and courage.
Most students who enroll in my classes have strong opinions about American politics which they think map onto how the U.S. conducts its foreign policy, especially in the Middle East. Like the average U.S. voter, polarization and partisanship drive their views on how the US behaves beyond its shores. In response, the primary goal of my teaching is to equip students toward building an evidence-based worldview capable of interpreting reliable information to make critical judgements about international politics. Instead of leading students to a particular conclusion, I seek to create the conditions necessary for rigorous thought. Providing students with a framework for developing their own worldviews helps them not only become critical consumers of political news, but also grow into public servants and active citizens.
Even before I step into the classroom, I am intentional about engaging with students, including what opportunities or difficulties might affect their ability to succeed during the semester. Before the term begins, I send out a “getting to know you” survey, where I can begin to learn not only students’ names, but why they are interested in the class and what they hope to achieve at USU. I then follow up with an anonymous survey during the week of midterm examinations which collects student feedback on their overall experience in the course. I started this protocol during my first semester at USU and found it helpful in recalibrating my expectations as the semester progresses.
As a result of student feedback, I now include a national security simulation as the final, four-week activity of my lecture course on U.S. foreign policy.[1] As one student noted, “Professor Knuppe is a champion of the students. He spent the whole semester devising ways to make the class easier, while still teaching us all the required content. He made us study guides, gave direct feedback, showed us how to study, showed us how the midterm and final would work, gave us class days to prepare, and even invited us to his home for a Sunday meal. You can tell he loves what he does, and is bent on our success.”[2]
As I have grown as an instructor, I have increasing structured my courses around experiential learning opportunities. I in my Middle Eastern Government and Politics course (POLS 3230), for example, I build the course around a digital study abroad program with university students in Yemen. Titled Qisasna (“Our Stories), the program—funded by the U.S. Department of State—organizes students into cohorts in order to engage in dialogue sessions which then become a podcast produced and disseminated by Kerning Cultures, a Middle East-based nonprofit media organization.[3] One student remarked, “Participating in Qisasna made me realize how crucial interacting with others and learning from their experiences is. Looking at a topic from an academic perspective is not a complete picture and interviews with people whose daily life includes Yemeni politics…has taught me more than expected.”[4]
Building on insights gleaned from the Qisasna program, I hope to lead a study abroad program to Israel/Palestine. In collaboration with Daniella Hirschfeld (Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning), we hope to offer a program that examines the effects of climate change on political conflict in the region. This multidisciplinary approach should appeal not only to Environmental Science students in LAEP, but also to CHaSS students who are interested in economic development or peace and conflict studies.
I also teach students to leverage generative AI algorithms, like ChatGPT, to improve their written and spoken communication. For example, in United States Foreign Policy (POLS 3400), students draft policy memos about various challenges and opportunities of US foreign policy based on historical examples drafted by policymakers like Henry Kissinger and Susan Rice. Students use generative AI to develop a first draft, and then edit the prompt to include more granular detail, relevant citations, and policy recommendations. By having students use AI to write a first draft, they gain an appreciation for the strengths and weaknesses of current algorithms, as well as how to navigate emerging technology to improve their learning and communication skills.
As one student observed, “Professor Knuppe’s coursework challenged your point of view in a great way. I actually looked forward to this class during my school week. Knuppe is very knowledgeable but also weaves in humor and opportunities for stimulating debates/discussions in the lessons. He was also very receptive to feedback and valued the class’s opinion.”[5]
Finally, across my courses I emphasize the value of data literacy, or the ability to understand, interpret, analyze, and communicate basic probability and statistics. While most students will not use their USU degree to pursue a career in data science, my goal is to teach them how to interpret and communicate quantitative findings from newspaper or magazine articles, as well as government or policy reports. To meet this goal, in Introduction to Political Research Methods (POLS 3000), I structure lecture examples, problem sets, and group projects around real-world data about conflict, climate change, voting, and education policy.
As one student explained, “Professor Knuppe did very well at his job of teaching this material and giving us the chance to develop. As someone that has taken this course before I felt more comfortable to go and ask for help than I ever have before. Through his help and understanding that this class is not about performance but understanding. It made for a great learning environment that was truly needed. This is a course that was required for me to take, but I am glad that I was able to take it from a teacher that would take the time to help us understand the material.”[6]
[1] Enrollments in U.S. Foreign Policy have doubled since I began teaching POLS 3400 in AU 2020.
[2] Student evaluation, POLS 2100, Spring 2023
[3] Previous student podcast episodes are available at: https://www.amideast.org/yemen/find-a-scholarship/undergraduate-study/qisasna-our-stories.
[4] Student evaluation, POLS 3230, Spring 2023
[5] Student evaluation, POLS 3400, Fall 2022
[6] Student evaluation, POLS 3000, Spring 2023