Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons^™

The Importance And Challenges Of Self-Reflecting On Identity And Privilege For White Pre-Service Teachers, Carlie Dawson

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Whiteness continues to dominate the field of education; yet, there is sufficient evidence to indicate that White teachers are not critically self-aware of their racial identity and the privilege it grants them. White teachers are not challenged to think about the normalcy of whiteness and privilege in education because they have not been properly exposed to the subject of whiteness. To better understand if and how White teachers conceptualize and self-reflect on their racial identity and racialized privilege, a survey was distributed to pre-service White, female graduating Liberal Studies students who plan on pursuing a career in education. This senior …

Moving From The Streets To The Classroom: Understanding The Teacher's Role For Creating A Robust Education For Homeless Youth In The Classroom, Desiree Vargas

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Homeless youth within the educational system have been neglected through the lack of teacher education. Teachers have been misdirected through their education in the Bachelor of Arts degree and the teacher credential program. They are learning how to teach to an “ideal” classroom with students who are always ready and mentally prepared to learn. Teachers are not made aware that every student brings a different background to the classroom, and how that background could affect their academics and behavior. Teachers are unaware on how to deal with issues such as homelessness in the classroom, and that the students’ situations outside …

A Battle Of Values Global Trends Of Nationalism And Cosmopolitanism In Education Paradigms, James Drennen

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This report explores the global political climate around the Spring of 2018 and how it has affected educational paradigms in Costa Rica, China, Finland, and Turkey.

Academic And Social Effects Of Waldorf Education On Elementary School Students, Christian Zepeda

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

As society becomes more critical of public education, alternative education systems are becoming more popular. The Waldorf education system, based on the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, has increased in popularity and commonality each decade. Currently, 23 Waldorf institutions exist in California. With this increase in popularity, it is important to analyze and examine the effectiveness of this education philosophy. An examination of Waldorf education, through research and interviews of Waldorf teachers and administration, will provide parents and teachers with an understanding of its strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, Waldorf education provides a positive environment for students, yielding positive effects but this …

Microaggressions Within The Lgbtq+ Community: An Autoethnography, Erika A. Perez Montes

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This autoethnography is about different points in my life where I committed microaggressions towards the LGBTQ+ community specific to different genders, sexual orientations and/or how people in the community present themselves. I use “thick intersectionality” ‒ an embodied exploration of the complex particularities of individuals’ lives and identities associated with their race, class, gender, sexuality, and national locations ‒ as a means of portraying my message, voicing the emotions that I felt, and the identity I occupied at that moment. I show that the intersectionalities of queer folks’ identities create unconscious microaggressions towards other queer folks. The purpose of my …

Experiences Of Teaching Controversial And Emotive Issues In Terrorism Studies Courses In The Politically-Charged Classroom: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Blake Devolld

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the phenomenon experienced by faculty members in higher education who teach courses in terrorism studies with curriculum containing controversial and emotive issues in a politically-charged classroom. The study included 12 college faculty members who taught courses in terrorism studies from several institutions of higher learning throughout the United States. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, participant questionnaires and the collection of course materials. The data collected through these methods were analyzed using the process suggested by Moustakas (1994) to write a composite description of the phenomenon using textural and structural …

Experiencing Success: A Hermeneutic Phenomenology Of Successful Remedial Mathematics Students, Kyle Ireland

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to describe how students experience success in mathematics remediation at a four-year private institution in the central United States. Success in a remedial mathematics course was defined as one’s completion of a required remedial mathematics course having earned an overall grade of 90% or higher. The theories guiding this study were achievement goal theory and expectancy-value theory grounded in Bandura’s social cognitive theory. This theoretical framework provided a motivational framework for student success in a post-secondary, remedial mathematics course based on individual goals for completing the task, student self-efficacy beliefs, and the …

Drawing On The Past To Open Up Possible Futures. A Response To "The Cultural Contours Of Democracy: Indigenous Epistemologies Informing South African Citizenship", John Ambrosio

Democracy & Education

This article is a response to a qualitative study that examined how the indigenous African notion of ubuntu informs how some school teachers in a Black township in South Africa conceptualize Western-oriented narratives of democracy. While the study acknowledges important differences in how ubuntu is understood and defined, the author argues that it nonetheless tends to overlook them in order to harness ubuntu as a force for positive social change and national development. The author argues that ubuntu could potentially serve as a powerful cultural force for change, but this requires a context in which some of the moral qualities …

Contention And Conversation In The K–12 Classroom. A Review Essay Of Teaching Controversial Issues And The Case For Contention, Robert Kunzman

Democracy & Education

This review essay explores the complexities and challenges involved in addressing controversial issues in the K–12 public school classroom, drawing from two recent books: Noddings and Brooks’s Teaching Controversial Issues: The Case for Critical Thinking and Moral Commitment in the Classroom and Zimmerman and Robertson’s The Case for Contention: Teaching Controversial Issues in American Schools. This educational work requires thoughtful preparation by teachers, support from administrators and communities, and careful discernment about whether issues require pedagogical neutrality or directive instruction. Teaching young people how to understand unfamiliar perspectives and engage respectfully across ethical disagreement should be a fundamental priority for …

Getting An Education In Cuba, Sarah Asp Olson

Frontiers

Ruth Dawley-Carr takes lessons learned from multiple trips to Cuba and applies them in her Minnesota State Mankato classroom.

The 'Be' Project: A Professional Development Series For Supporting Mindfulness In The Classroom, Kara N. Davies

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University by Kara N. Davies on April 18, 2018.

Teacher Education Program Redesign: Maintaining A Focus On Social Justice In An Increasingly Challenging Context, Grinell Smith, Colette Rabin

Faculty Publications

This qualitative case study describes the outcomes of a major reorganization of a well-established five semester post-baccalaureate combined credential/MA program into a three semester program. The original program focused squarely on social justice and multicultural awareness; reorganization was driven entirely by external forces, many of which the department faculty viewed as anathema to our larger purposes as educators that are based on deficit-models of diversity, ignore relational aspects of teaching, and are at the heart of efforts to privatize teacher education. Reorganization involved heavy reliance on “touchstone texts,” immersive field experiences, and student action-inquiry centered on making theory to practice …

Public Education For Democracy: Teaching Immigrant And Bilingual Children As Equals, Luis E. Poza, Sheila M. Shannon

Faculty Publications

This theoretical essay offers a genealogical analysis (Foucault, 1975) that problematizes the idea of “public” with respect to schooling immigrant and bilingual students. “Public” has been reconfigured in ways that privilege hegemonic whiteness, resulting in policies and practices such as standardized testing, for example, that primarily evaluate, sort, and penalize (Foucault, 1975) schools serving these students. We contend that testing’s pernicious impacts stem from a raciolinguistic project of American identity (Flores & Rosa, 2015). Educators, adapting to the tests (Freire, 1974), cement linguistic and racial hierarchies. Referencing classrooms from our teaching and empirical work, we argue for teacher education that …

A Blend Of Absurdism And Humanism: Defending Kurt Vonnegut’S Place In The Secondary Setting, Krisandra R. Johnson

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

This essay argues that Kurt Vonnegut blends a unique humanist stance into his absurdist plots and characters, ultimately urging readers to confront the absurd with a kindness and human decency his protagonists often find rare. As a result of this absurd and humanist synthesis, I defend and promote Vonnegut’s place in the secondary English curriculum, despite his rank on many banned books lists, since his characters’ journeys correlate thematically with the growth and process of postmodern adolescents and encourage moral responsibility without sentimental manipulation.

Focusing on Cat’s Cradle, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, and Slaughterhouse-Five as primary sources, specifically …

Cultural Humility: A Qualitative Study On The Development Of Self-Awareness In Social Work Educators, Nicole Moore-Bembry

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the faculty members' perspectives on their racial identity development and how these perspectives impact their cultural self-awareness and cultural humility in the classroom. White social work faculty members voiced their vulnerability and discomfort in addressing race, oppression, and discrimination in the classroom. This study included a total of 10 White social work faculty members from a medium sized northeastern university.

Key findings of the study indicate that White faculty members: were primarily clinicians who later became educators, were primarily raised in White communities and the Monoracial upbringing impacted their personal …

Michalski Ma Portfolio: Finding My Path, Victoria L. Michalski

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This portfolio is the culmination of my work in the English Teaching specialty Master's program at Bowling Green State University. In addition to the works I produced for my classes and subsequently re-wrote for my portfolio, I've added an analytical reflection about my growth and evolution during my studies in the English MA program, and about overcoming my difficulties until I finally found the connection between English and historical interests that I sorely needed in order to heighten my enthusiasm and motivation. This reflection brings together the reasons I chose the works in my portfolio to represent my initial discomfort …

Balances Of Power Between Ip Creators: Ethical Issues In Scholarly Communication, Kristin Laughtin-Dunker

Library Presentations, Posters, and Audiovisual Materials

Scholarly communications often values free access above all else, but what happens when that drive for openness conflicts with ethical issues of consent and ownership? In this CARL IG Showcase panel, members of SCORE (Scholarly Communication and Open Resources for Education) will discuss some of the thorny issues of ethics and scholarly communication, including: consent (particularly among diverse communities outside of the institution) and digital collections, students as information creators / library as publisher, and decolonizing who we consider scholars and what we consider scholarship. This panel will feature speakers who will share current discussions and personal stories on issues …

The Heart Of K'É: Transforming Diné Special Education And Unsettling The Colonial Logics Of Disability, Sandra Yellowhorse

American Studies ETDs

This paper takes up the roles of ideology and spatiality as they impact Diné students and learners in understanding conceptions of normativity, neuro-diversity and bodily variance. I am concerned with how the movement and creation of Indigenous schools and their praxis still maintain and often times produce settler colonial ideologies of being, personhood, difference and ability. I illustrate the challenges that Diné planners and educators face in entrenching cultural knowledge and language into their educational initiatives, while some of the problematic manifestations and expressions of normativity present themselves through state polices, federal law and mainstream curriculum.

I focus on the …

The Impact Of Proactive Community Circles On Student Academic Achievement And Student Behavior In An Elementary Setting, Michele Lenertz

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods study was to determine the differences in student academic achievement and student behavior prior to and after implementation of proactive community circles (PCC) in elementary schools in California that have implemented for a minimum of two years as measured by standardized test scores and student behavior records. The second purpose was to describe the impact of proactive community circles on student academic achievement and student behavior in elementary schools in California that have implemented proactive community circles for a minimum of two years as perceived by school administrators.

Methodology: The mixed method explanatory …

Social And Emotional Learning In Portland Public High Schools, Makenzie Thompson

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) can be defined as, “the capacity to recognize and manage emotions, solve problems effectively, and establish positive relationships with others; competencies that clearly are essential for all students. Thus, SEL targets a combination of behaviors, cognitions, and emotions to better students in school and prepare them for the world after”(Zins et al., 2003,p.1). Emerging evidence suggests that schoolwide and teacher-focused interventions involving a social and emotional learning framework are among the most effective approaches for improving student behavioral outcomes and student success in school (Anyon, et al., 2016). The aim of this study was to …