Negotiating Knowledge and Application: The Lived Experiences of Social Studies Students in Theory-To-Practice Transitions

Abstract

This phenomenology examined the lived experiences of Social Studies students going through transition processes of theory to practice in the context of practicum and field engagement. The study was based on experiential, transformative, situated, and reflective approaches to learning and explored how students perceive times of dissonance, uncertainty, and affirmation in applying theoretical knowledge to real life circumstances. The nine majors in Social Studies were interviewed in semi-structured interviews, and thematic analysis was performed based on the descriptive phenomenology. Results indicated that theory-to-practice transitions occur as a reconstructive rather than a linear process and are defined by an ongoing negotiation between conceptual knowledge and situational realities. Dissonance served as an activator of the reflective meaning-making process whereas affirmation strengthened adaptive competence. Students redefined knowledge as dialogical and contextual, practice as relational and responsive and the self as an emerging professional identity. The paper emphasizes practicum as a transformational environment where the development in epistemology, development in the profession, and development in identity co-evolve as the result of reflective interaction.