Our students are not learning in a vacuum. They scroll past headlines about harmful policies on their way to class, support friends navigating fear about immigration uncertainty, and sit with the weight of constant stigma, violence, and murder, all while trying to focus on coursework. Pretending the classroom exists outside these realities does not protect students; instead, it isolates them (Ferlazzo, 2020). When we ignore the sociopolitical dimensions of our disciplines, we signal that what matters most to students does not belong in academic space (Walker, 2018).

Reflective Activism is a flexible, three-stage assignment framework that gives students a structured pathway from personal reflection to informed micro-action. Students first engage in creative self-exploration around an issue that matters to them. Then, students investigate how systems and institutions shape that issue and design a small-scale response, and finally, present their work to peers through interactive, low-stakes formats built for conversation and engagement. This framework draws on trauma-informed teaching principles and is designed to work across disciplines (Bitanihirwe & Imad, 2023; Guthery & Ausloos, in press). When students have structured space to connect who they are with what they are studying, they move from feeling overwhelmed by the world to feeling capable of participating in it.

How to Use This Framework

Stage 1: Personal Exploration

In this opening stage, students choose a sociopolitical topic that resonates with their own experiences and produce a creative artifact that captures their relationship to it. Students should choose a medium that works for them: a photo essay, a music playlist with written annotations, a short audio monologue, a hand-drawn map of their community, a letter they will never send, or any other format that allows honest expression without requiring traditional academic writing. The point is authentic engagement. Students should consider prompts like: 

• What is one issue in the world right now that you cannot stop thinking about, and why?
• If you could show someone what it feels like to live alongside this issue, what would you want them to see or hear?
• What parts of your own background, identity, or experience shape how you understand this issue?

Stage 2: Analysis and Micro-Action

Building directly on the issue students explored in Stage 1, this stage shifts the lens from personal experience to institutional impact and action. Students select one institution or system connected to their topic (e.g., a school district, a healthcare network, a media outlet, a local government body), and ask: 

• What does this institution say it values, and how do its practices match or contradict those stated values?
• Who benefits from the way things currently operate, and who is harmed?
• What would it look like if this institution took the issue seriously?

After reflection and analysis, students move towards micro-action. This might look like drafting and distributing an informational one-pager for a campus office, building a curated social media thread that traces an issue’s impact, organizing a listening session with classmates, or writing an op-ed or letter to an institutional decision-maker. Alongside the action, students keep a brief process log in a way that works for them. This could be a voice memo journal, a photo diary, or a few paragraphs. This process log should include what they learned about how the institution operates, what informed the action they chose, what they encountered along the way, and what shifted in their understanding.

Stage 3: Interactive Exchange

In this final stage, the goal is for students to engage with one another’s work in ways that feel conversational and relational rather than performative, emphasizing connection, curiosity, and shared meaning-making. Possible formats include a gallery walk, where students display their work and classmates circulate, leaving written reflections or questions; a paired interview model in which students interview one another for ten minutes about their projects and then introduce their partner’s work to the larger group; or a roundtable discussion, where small groups bring forward one question their project raised but did not resolve and work through these questions collectively. Faculty should explicitly frame this stage as a space for curiosity and connection rather than evaluation or critique, and should offer flexible participation options for students who may be uncomfortable with public-facing formats.

Conclusion

Higher education asks students to think critically, but rarely gives them a structured yet personal way to think critically about the world that is pressing in on them right now. Reflective Activism offers that structure, meeting students where they already are and rather than treating that overwhelm as a barrier to learning, channels it into creative exploration, analysis, and peer dialogue and engagement (Brunzell et al., 2019). 

References and Resources

Bitanihirwe, B. K. Y., & Imad, M. (2023). Gauging trauma-informed pedagogy in higher education: A UK case study. Pastoral Care in Education, 41(5), 579–602. 

Brunzell, T., Stokes, H., & Waters, L. (2019). Shifting teacher practice in trauma-affected classrooms: Practice pedagogy strategies within a trauma-informed positive education model. School Mental Health, 11(3), 600–614. 

Ferlazzo, L. (2020, October 13). Keeping politics out of the classroom is like keeping the water out of rain. Education Week. 

Guthery, A. & Ausloos, C. (in press). Using Activism to Transform Sociopolitical Crises in Counselor Education. Association for Counselor Education & Supervision Teaching Practice Briefs. 

Walker, T. (2018, December 11). “Education is political”: Neutrality in the classroom shortchanges students. NEA Today. 

About the Author

Dr. Clark D. Ausloos is an assistant professor in the counseling department, in the School of Education and Human Services. His teaching philosophy centers on a constructivist, student-centered approach that values developing meaningful connections with students. Beyond teaching, Dr. Ausloos holds licenses as a Clinical Counselor and School Counselor and has received high recognition from students for his engaging and sensitive handling of diverse topics.

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(Image: Tomatsu Shomei, Two Views of Hibakusha Sakita Mashi, Nagasaki, 1961, from Hiroshima–Nagasaki: Document 1961 (Tokyo: The Japan Council against A and H Bombs, 1961). Hiroshima-Nagasaki Memorial Collection at the Barbara Reynolds Memorial Archives, Wilmington College.)

Place-based learning is a teaching approach that incorporates spaces other than the traditional classroom setting into their lessons. Through real life examples and topics that foster interdisciplinarity, this type of learning expands students’ worldviews and forms connections between communities. To highlight place-based learning opportunities on our campus, we have launched the Teaching in Place (TiP) Program, which encourages faculty to utilize OU’s outdoor and indoor spaces in their lessons. Our program focuses on the importance of interdisciplinary learning as well as students’ connection to the real world, pushing them to go beyond their notebooks and pencils to incorporate community engagement into their learning. 

As the upcoming interdisciplinary symposium “Plumbing the Depths of A-Bomb Sufferers’ Trials and Tribulations” will demonstrate, the Oakland University Art Gallery’s current exhibit, Memorializing the Hibakusha Experience, is a great example of how its space can intertwine subjects through creative lessons while also exploring significant topics that are relevant to today’s world. 

About the Exhibit

Memorializing the Hibakusha Experience presents a collection of artifacts and artworks that sheds light on the challenges faced by hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivors, following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. This collection provides a perspective that is not often discussed and presents an historical event that is still affecting people to this day. We encourage the use of this exhibition because of its relevancy and ability to connect with multiple majors at OU. 

How Your Course Can Engage with the Exhibit

This exhibit encourages interdisciplinary learning by addressing a wide variety of subjects surrounding the hibakusha’s experience. Here are a few majors that can academically benefit from this exhibit, as well as potential activities that can be incorporated into coursework:

Political Science

While Americans may be familiar with the atomic bombing of Japan, many might not know the event through the hibakusha’s perspective. This lack of knowledge was further exacerbated by the United States suppressing all media coverage of the attack for seven years following Japan’s surrender (Oakland University & Wilmington College). Sections of the exhibit recount the stories of the hibakusha and their call to end further development of nuclear weapons (Oakland University & Wilmington College). This exhibit touches upon many political elements, such as civil rights and media suppression, which can be incorporated into political science classes in a number of ways:

• In the “A Noiseless Flash” section, have students examine the two different magazines: one American from 1946 and one Japanese from 1952 (Oakland University & Wilmington College). Have them compare and contrast the two and consider how political factors might have influenced how each presents their respective perspective.
• After students take in the information from sections like the Hiroshima Peace Pilgrimage, London, 1962, have students conduct further research into the march and its larger context. Then, have the class discuss how these events might have affected current discussions surrounding nuclear weapon development and warfare.

Environmental Science

Due to the lethal radiation released by the A-bombs, the health of both plants and people are still being negatively affected eighty years later (Oakland University & Wilmington College). Sections of the exhibit suggest the catastrophic impact that atomic warfare has had on the world. Some ways to integrate this exhibit into environmental science studies are:

• Have students examine the A-Bombed Trees section, which shows images of currently living trees that survived the A-bombings. Draft a list of questions pondering how radiation has genetically changed and/or damaged the trees and what it might tell us about the environment around them.
• Have students examine the different photographs of hibakusha and those of their progeny being medically affected by radiation in the Radiation Sickness and the Fear of Genetic Mutations section. Have students come up with possible research questions regarding the environment’s impact on both health and genetics. Have them further their inquiries through research.

Psychology

The level of devastation the A-bombs had on the hibakusha was not confined to the physical, as it also created severe psychological issues in the aftermath and beyond. Sections of the exhibit speak to several individual hibakusha lives. It reveals the health issues they suffered, the shanty towns that many lived in, the crafts they created as their source of income, and the mentality they forged after having their entire lives changed forever (Oakland University & Wilmington College). There are many ways to incorporate this exhibit into psychological studies, which include:

• After walking through the exhibit, have students write journal entries about what part of the hibakusha lives they found resonated with them the most. Then, have them explain what their own mental state might be if their lives were changed similarly to those of the hibakusha.
• Have students explore the exhibit to learn more about the lives of the hibakusha. Have them pick a specific area of focus: economic, social, or physical. Task them to dive into further research to help them explain the psychological impact the A-bombings had on their lives regarding one of these three areas.

Conclusion

There are many more majors that can benefit from this exhibit due to its wide variety of artworks, artifacts, and its overall relevance to the current issues of today with regards to civil rights, warfare, and the threat of nuclear arms. Our Teaching in Place program seeks to promote this exhibit not only for its significant importance, but also because it fosters CETL’s overall goals: encouraging students to form connections with communities and expanding their worldview. 

CETL encourages faculty to take advantage of this exhibition while it is currently on view on our campus. If you wish to learn more about the OU Art Gallery and find out how to schedule a class session for the exhibit, check out our Art Gallery Teaching Guide for more information.

References and Resources

• Art Gallery Teaching Guide
• Bringing Place into Your Classroom Space
• Oakland University Art Gallery: Memorializing the Hibakusha Experience
• Oakland University Art Gallery & Wilmington College Peace Resource Center. (2025). Memorializing the Hibakusha Experience [Exhibition catalogue].
• Remembering the Survivors: A New Exhibition Reflects on the Human Legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Teaching in Place: Program at a Glance

About the Author

Haley Slaughter is an Editorial Assistant for the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. She is currently working with CETL to share with OU faculty the importance of utilizing campus spaces for teaching through the Teaching in Place program. She is a recent English graduate from the College of Arts of Sciences and earned the honor of Summa Cum Laude upon graduation. She consulted with Claude Baillargeon, Professor of Art History and curator of the Memorializing the Hibakusha exhibit.

About the Exhibition Curator

Claude Baillargeon, a professor of art history at Oakland University since 2002, was commissioned by the Wilmington College Peace Resource Center, Wilmington, OH, to curate the exhibition Memorializing the Hibakusha Experience, which opened at Wilmington College on August 6, 2025, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Peace Resource Center and the 80th commemoration of the A-bombing of Japan. Since 2011, he has taught AH 3710 Visual Representations and the Nuclear Experience at Oakland University. 

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