Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons^™

Reframing Education And The Classroom As A Safe Space, Lily Padilla

Art of Teaching Thesis - Written

This paper asks us to reimagine education and our classrooms as safe spaces for children. Children spend at least 1,000 hours a year in schools. They should spend those hours feeling like they have the freedom to dream, imagine, grow, take risks, and make mistakes. Furthermore, everyone deserves to be in a space that welcomes, accepts, and celebrates who they are. This means recognizing who they were, who they are, and who they can become. Children’s complex identities and humanity must be recognized in schools to come to know each child fully. When we lead with love, respect, and empathy, …

A Trauma Responsive Approach To Fostering Resilience, Addressing Equity Issues And Improving Student Wellness And Academic Success, Mark Harrington, Joe Thompson, Kimberly Witeck

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

We’ll start with our school’s motto, “Family, Love, Respect,” which is posted in nearly every hallway, office and gathering place in our school. We attempt to provide each student with a strong sense of each. Although ours is an alternative high school, filled with stories of trauma, neglect and despair, our students are resilient! With that in mind we have created a number of programs to encourage resilience, provide a healthy path forward, decrease student discipline, and foster student success. All of these programs, and the stories we share detailing what our students have overcome show just how resilient young …

Journey “Box” Assignment Description, David Wolff

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

The Journey “Box” allows preservice teachers to explore and share their own historical narrative as they different aspects of their own family’s journey to America. The Journey “Box” first asks preservice teachers to explore themes by reading children’s literature and then positions preservice teachers as interviewers as they seek out different facets of their family’s historical narrative from members of their family. Preservice teachers then use their experience with a Journey “Box” to design an inquiry that could be used in their field experience. The Journey “Box” integrates social studies standards and best practices with ELA standards.

Looking For Inclusivity In Higher Ed? Start In The Classroom!, Michelle C. Carpenter

Atlantic Marketing Journal

The rallying cry for inclusivity has never been greater in higher education. As professors look for ways to ensure all sociocultural perspectives are present in their course activities, lectures and discussions, many questions remain beginning with who should be addressing these issues as well as how exactly this might be accomplished. Increasingly more faculty are opening their classrooms to this discussion, even if diversity is not a required element of their course. Exit interviews conducted in Spring 2021 with senior marketing majors at a Mid Atlantic University provided an opportunity for students to share their perceptions about inclusivity and what …

Exploring Compassion For The Community And Diversity Through Nursing Experiential Learning, Jaime Sinutko, Nadine Wodwaski, Brooklin Adams

Experiential Learning & Teaching in Higher Education

Background: The aim of Jesuit education is total growth leading to action (Jesuit Institute, 2014a), plus higher Jesuit education seeks to transform students through examining the world around them. The promotion of experiential learning is noted in Ignatian Pedagogy (2014a) by urging the whole person to enter the learning experience. Nursing education, at a Jesuit University, involves educating the whole person within a service-oriented profession. Thus, experiential learning in a nursing course at a Jesuit University is an active component of Ignatian pedagogy, promoting Jesuit values and Catholic identity. This has been challenging since the COVID-19 pandemic forced universities to …

The Importance Of Visibility In Curriculum And Teaching Practice, Jasmine Bailey

Art of Teaching Thesis - Written

I am arguing that it is absolutely necessary for all teachers and administration to see the importance of making all children visible and valued and that they should include this idea into their curriculum plans and teaching practices. Despite the focus on representation, visibility in the curriculum is still lacking. I will detail how visibility is affected by the differences in how children learn, children who have experienced trauma and power dynamics and oppression.

This thesis will aim to express and display the value that all children should be made visible in the classroom. This includes all backgrounds and ethnicities …

Who’S Curating?: Situating Autohistorias-Teorías In The Archives, Leslie C. Sotomayor, Julie M. Porterfield

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

During the 2018-2019 academic year, we collaborated to facilitate a workshop for students in an Art Education course, using archival material from the Eberly Family Special Collections Library at Penn State. The course centered on diversity, pedagogy, and visual culture. Using our respective expertise in Art Education and primary source literacy, we chose the design and scope of the two-day workshop and subsequent assignment as a reflection for our passion for feminist theorizing and reimagining the academic White patriarchal canon in a predominantly White institution. As critical, feminist pedagogues, and in an effort to match the course theme, we chose …

Flipping The Jane Austen Classroom, Lynda A. Hall

English Faculty Articles and Research

The contemporary Austen classroom might appreciate cultural and racial diversity, examine popular culture’s distortions of the original texts, and consider multimodal ways of reading. This paper reflects on a course that “flipped” the research process in order to “find” Austen and her works in the popular culture and to evaluate our understanding in the twenty-first century. Students discovered the commodification and distortion of “Jane Austen” and conducted research for creative projects to learn more about the social, cultural, and historical contexts of the written texts.

Intention, Questions, And Creative Expression: An Antidiscriminatory Diversity Statement, Hannah S. Bright

Scholarship and Engagement in Education

Supporting education that reflects diversity involves maintaining awareness of one’s personal positionality, creating safe and inclusive learning communities, and using creativity and choice to empower and honor student voice and individual development. When working in educational settings, teachers may involve students in selecting relevant materials, and follow their lead in creating critical dialogue about salient factors of identity.

The Need To Be Apart In An Inclusive Educational Setting, Zenaida Muslin

Occasional Paper Series

This paper illustrates the need for direct acknowledgement and support of children and faculty of color in inclusive educational settings. Muslin recounts her experiences at many different schools and how each offered a new perspective on diversity. The most profound impacts she has made in her community stem from her work at Bank Street School for Children, where she and her fellow faculty recognized the importance of having separate meetings and focus groups devoted to the concerns of people of color within the institution.

Introduction: Talking Tough Topics In The Classroom, Jonathan G. Silin

Occasional Paper Series

An introduction to this Occasional Paper, in which four educators describe their approaches to tough topics in the classroom—gender, sexual identity, death, and diversity. Despite differing subject matter, the essays have much in common from which we can learn. An important commonality is the involvement of at least three kinds of learning— cognitive, emotional, and social.

Time Travel, Labour History, And The Null Curriculum: New Design Knowledge For Mobile Augmented Reality History Games, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This paper presents a case study drawn from design-based research (DBR) on a mobile, place-based augmented reality history game. Using DBR methods, the game was developed by the author as a history learning intervention for fifth to seventh graders. The game is built upon historical narratives of disenfranchised populations that are seldom taught, those typically relegated to the 'null curriculum'. These narratives include the stories of women immigrant labour leaders in the early twentieth century, more than a decade before suffrage. The project understands the purpose of history education as the preparation of informed citizens. In paying particular attention to …

Using Visible Thinking Routines To Teach About The Impact Of Colonialism On Race Within The Language Arts Classroom, Carol Kelly

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Particularly within Language Arts, the curriculum has historically been based around the classics of Literature, which are heavily dominated by wealthy white men. Finding suitable materials to teach from, whilst still providing the background knowledge of the traditional canon, is a challenge to effective teaching about diversity. I am aware that I come from a culture of whiteness, and this makes me wary of my own biases when teaching about cultural diversity. When approaching this topic I have drawn upon a variety of resources, and this paper will use a mixture of academic research, teaching materials, and self study to …

Bailamos Juntos: Salsa En Los E.E.U.U. Y El Mundo, Betty Tran

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This composition traces the history of Cuban-American cultural identity formation through the lens of music and dance. As the author explains, Cuban immigrants cultivated a rich music and dance culture in New York City by creating a series of Latin and Afro-Cuban music genres and dances that brought diverse groups of people together. As a Vietnamese-American woman, Tran sees several connections between her family’s Vietnamese heritage and the cultural histories of Cubans who came to the United States as refugees seeking asylum from political oppression. As a first-generation college student, Tran believes it is important to share this composition as …

It Takes A Village: (Un)Learning And (Re)Imagining Teaching Transformation Through Race-Based Equity Work And Collaborative Research Analysis, Susan Adams, Jamie Buffington-Adams

Susan Adams

Invited poster presentation at the 9th Annual Robert G. Bringle Civic Engagement 
Showcase and Symposium, Indianapolis, IN, April 23, 2013.

It Takes A Village: (Un)Learning And (Re)Imagining Teaching Transformation Through Race-Based Equity Work And Collaborative Research Analysis, Susan Adams, Jamie Buffington-Adams

Susan Adams

Poster presented at the 24th Annual Joseph Taylor Symposium, Indianapolis, IN, February 27, 2013.

Examining The Role Of Facilitated Conflict On Student Learning Outcomes In A Diversity Education Course, Sabrina N. Ross

Department of Curriculum, Foundations, & Reading Faculty Publications

Building on the Piagetian concept of disequilibrium (i.e., cognitive conflict) and empirical research documenting relationships between cognitive conflict and transformative learning, this article explores the influence of facilitated conflict (i.e., intentional efforts by the instructor to help students reflect on and work through the intergroup conflict they experienced in the course) on the learning outcomes of female students enrolled in an exploratory diversity education course. Various forms of student writing including free-writing exercises and reflective papers were used in addition to two survey response questions to identify sources of cognitive conflict and assess student learning outcomes. Findings revealed that strategies …

Attracting Black Male Students To Research Careers In Education: A Report From The Grad Prep Academy Project, Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D., Andrew C. Porter, Ph.D.

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

This report is about the University of Pennsylvania’s Grad Prep Academy, a project that prepares Black undergraduate men for graduate study and research-related careers in the field of education. The project is also a longitudinal research study that enables us to analyze Black men’s trajectories from undergraduate study through graduate degree programs and eventually into their careers. Eighteen students participated in our first two cohorts of Academy Scholars. The project described in this report, as well as the recommendations we offer, can be instructive for other schools of education and a range of stakeholders who are concerned about the diversity …

Inside Job: Finding Respite, Release, (Un)Learning And (Re)Imagining Teacher Transformation Through Race-Based Equity Work, Susan Adams, Jamie Buffington-Adams

Susan Adams

Paper presented at the 32nd Annual Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice, Dayton, OH, October 14-15, 2011.

Whiten Up! Examining Our Race, Privilege And Positionality In School, Susan Adams, Trish Mullaney

Susan Adams

Workshop and paper presented at the Indiana Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (INTESOL) Annual Conference, Indianapolis, IN, November 13, 2010.

Is Anyone Really Listening? The Promise And Paradox Of Deeply Listening Across/Within Diversity, Susan Adams, Kathryn Brooks

Susan Adams

Paper presentation and experiential workshop at the American Educational Studies Association Annual Conference, Denver, CO, October 27-31, 2010.

Navigating Similarity And Difference: A Lens Of Whiteness In Preparing White, Middle Class Preservice Teachers For Diverse Classrooms, Susan Adams

Susan Adams

Presentation at the 10th Annual Graduate Student Conference on Leadership, Culture, and Pedagogy, Oxford, OH, February 2010.

Navigating Similarity And Difference: A Lens Of Whiteness In Preparing White, Middle Class Preservice Teachers For Diverse Classrooms, Susan Adams

Susan Adams

Presentation at the International Teacher Education and Social Justice Conference, Chicago, IL, December 2009.

We Don’T Want To Go Around Unwritten: Understanding Our Students Through Meaningful And Culturally Welcoming Writing Assignments, Susan Adams

Susan Adams

Workshop presented at the Indiana Teachers of Writing Annual Conference, October 2009.

We Don’T Want To Go Around Unwritten: Understanding Our Students Through Meaningful And Culturally Welcoming Writing Assignments, Susan Adams

Susan Adams

Presentation at the National Writing Project Urban Sites Network Conference, Louisville, KY, April 2009.

Transforming Experiences: The Benefits Of Intellectual Risk, John Strassburger

Publications

This is the fourth in a series of occasional papers about the challenges confronting students and what Ursinus is doing to help them enter adult life.