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Full-Text Articles in Education
Social Justice Through Citizenship Education: A Collective Responsibility, Sara Winstead Fry, Jason O'Brien
Social Justice Through Citizenship Education: A Collective Responsibility, Sara Winstead Fry, Jason O'Brien
Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations
Existing research suggests that preservice elementary teachers tend to believe “good” citizens are people who follow laws and help others rather than people who embrace a more active model of citizenship that includes working to improve society. The authors propose that this trend results from a self-perpetuating cycle of passive citizenship that develops in part due to state curriculum standards and school experiences which focus on transmitting knowledge rather than preparing students to be active agents of change. The article presents the results of action research conducted in a teacher preparation course; the research was designed to investigate the impact …
Cultivating A Justice Orientation Toward Citizenship In Preservice Elementary Teachers, Sara W. Fry, Jason O'Brien
Cultivating A Justice Orientation Toward Citizenship In Preservice Elementary Teachers, Sara W. Fry, Jason O'Brien
Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations
Teacher educators have an obligation to prepare preservice teachers with the skills and dispositions necessary to promote a socially just world. Yet the results of this study uncovered that the majority of elementary preservice teachers in a national sample (N = 846) have a simplistic perception of good citizenship consistent with what Westheimer and Kahne called a “personally responsible” model of citizenship. Follow-up interviews with 21 participants revealed a problematic trend among 14 participants: inadequate content knowledge and minimal support or even resistance to socially just action. As this trend is antithetical to a democratic government and the very …