Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons^™

Transforming Higher Education: Responding To The Coronavirus And Other Looming Crises, Michael Mascolo

Pedagogy and the Human Sciences

Higher education is being deeply challenged by the coronavirus. The immediate threats of the coronavirus come at the heels of an existing panoply of problems that already threaten higher education as we know it. These include, of course, the looming enrollment crisis, the high cost of higher education, intractable student debt, the corporatization of education, limited learning on campus, and a general loss of faith in higher education among many sectors of the nation. How are colleges and universities to respond to these challenges? This paper calls upon colleges and universities to consider the need for structural transformation in order …

Critical Peace Pedagogy In The Social Studies: A Peace-Oriented Approach To Critical Citizen Education, Matt Dingler

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This two-article dissertation begins by providing a conceptual argument for the inclusion of Critical Peace Pedagogy (CPP) in social studies education. CPP represents the convergence of the peace education tradition and Paulo Freire’s critical praxis. I begin by aligning CPP to the philosophy, goals, and methods of instruction espoused by critical citizen educators seeking to further democracy and human rights. To demonstrate the feasibility of CPP integration within the social studies, I provide a model classroom approach framed according to a nationally recognized instructional design model. I close with a brief exposition on the importance of peace within education’s emerging …

Covid-19 Impact On Radiology Students’ Distance Learning, Mary Lee, Fahameda Hassan, Zoya Vinokur

Publications and Research

Distance learning (DL) is a teaching tool that offers education to students remotely in various locations (Ruiz, 2006). The increase in distance learning education is evident in all types of educational programs including those in Radiologic Sciences. DL education programs are expected to comply with all standards just as traditional programs are (Aaron, 2015). With a traditional class setting, knowledge is taught at a given time and day, which is structured in terms of course development and attendance. It does not factor in the domestic and familial responsibilities of the students outside the classroom walls. What happens when a pandemic …

“Speak Truth To Power Ourselves”: Teaching Social Justice In A Teacher Residency Program, Jori S. Beck

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The current study is part of a larger case study of faculty and staff methods at a teacher residency program. Teacher residencies, which were founded in the early 2000s, have an explicit mission of serving historically marginalized populations. However, more research is needed to better understand how these programs implement social justice teacher education. Indeed, there is a dearth of literature regarding the application of social justice practices in teacher education and the social justice beliefs of teacher educators. The interviews, documents, and observations collected for this study revealed a robust theme of social justice in participants’ beliefs and their …

The Relationship Between Exclusionary Discipline, Race, Socioeconomic Status, And Graduation Rates At 4a, 5a, And 6a High Schools, Ryan M. Cavazos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High school graduation is a significant predictor of future success. In most cases, a high school graduate will earn more money and live a healthier lifestyle than those who do not graduate from high school. The graduation rate in the United States is lower than the graduation rate of many other industrialized countries. Three known predictors of graduation rate are the number of exclusionary discipline assignments a student incurs, the race of the student, and the socioeconomic status of the student. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between graduation rate, exclusionary discipline, race (nonwhite), and low …

Reflections I And Ii: Reflexiones Desde La Educación Y Las Artes En La Era Covid-19 | Reflexões Da Educação E Das Artes Na Era Da Covid-19 | Reflections From Education And The Arts In The Covid-19 Era, Peter Mclaren, Wang Yan, Petar Jandrić

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Reflection I comes from the North American context, from Chapman University (USA). Peter McLaren is a professor at Chapman University, a researcher of reference in the international field of critical pedagogy. Wang Yan is a researcher in the Faculty of Educational Studies at Chapman University, her current research interest include Culture and Curricular Studies. Reflection II is developed by Petar Jandrić, professor at University of Applied Sciences of Zagreb (Croatia), researcher and expertise in understanding the intersections between critical pedagogy and information and communication technologies.

“You’Re Almost In This Place That Doesn’T Exist”: The Impact Of College In Prison As Understood By Formerly Incarcerated Students From The Northeastern United States, Hilary Binda, Jill D. Weinberg, Nora Maetzener, Carolyn Rubin

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

This qualitative study examines the immediate and lasting impact of liberal arts higher education in prison from the perspective of former college-in-prison students from the Northeastern United States. Findings obtained through semi-structured interviews with formerly incarcerated people are presented in the following three areas: self-confidence and agency, interpersonal relationships, and capacity for civic leadership. This study further examines former students’ reflections on the relationship between education and human transformation and begins to benchmark college programming with attention to the potential for such transformation. The authors identify four characteristics critical to a program’s success: academic rigor, the professor's respect for students, …

Pink And Blue Lenses: Duoethnographic Reflections On Biological Sex In Conservative Christian Education, Phillip A. Olt, Linly Stowe

The Qualitative Report

In this duoethnography, we explored how experiences in conservative Christian high schools were viewed through the different lenses of our binary-constructed, biological sexes. Our perceptions varied along the axes of gendered roles, gendered responsibilities, and romance and sexuality. Through reflecting on our own experiences, we critiqued what we were taught and the lasting repercussions those teachings left on our lives. The approach of indoctrination proved counterproductive in our schools, as graduates left unprepared to enter meaningful romantic relationships or to encounter a world outside their previously sheltered environs.

Community Asset Inquiry: A Model For Esol Teacher Praxis In Family And Community Engagement, Felice Atesoglu Russell, Amanda Richey

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

In this article, we present findings from our qualitative, self-study research on the development and implementation of two course assignments (community asset maps and oral histories) designed to support practicing teachers’ praxis in working with English learner (EL) students within the context of family and community engagement. Providing an example of how English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher praxis might be developed, findings are framed by our Community Asset Inquiry model. This model, grounded in equity literacy and transformative family and community engagement supports teachers’ development of praxis in support of an asset-based approach, deep knowledge of …

Spatial Production And Nomadic Subjectivities In A Buddhist Learning Space, Chau Bao Le

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Space and place are an integral part in the geographies of education, therefore, knowledge about culturally complex and ethnically diverse transnational communities could inform curricular innovations that meet the needs of individual students. This year-long ethnographic study challenged the prevailing realities that U.S. schools continue to devalue the experiences and cultural backgrounds of immigrant youth, which caused students from ethnic, cultural, racial, linguistic, and religious minority groups to feel structurally excluded and marginalized. Through examining the spatial production and nomadic subjectivities enacted over time in a transnational, diasporic space of a Buddhist temple in a U.S. southern state, the study …

Computer-Based Learning: Effects On Student Learning And Interpretation Of Curriculum, Hasani Jackson

Dissertations

ABSTRACT In 2010, the Superintendent of Prestige School District (a pseudonym) implemented online learning programs that would cater to student learning while increasing achievement. With the adoption of computer-based programs into Prestige School District System, curriculum specialists wanted to align programs to the Common Core State Standards initiated by the Department of Education. Through gathering quantitative and qualitative data on behalf of various stakeholders within Prestige School District, the goal of this study was to uncover the key elements of online learning programs that can be improved to enhance student achievement. Results provide a foundation for positive learning initiatives that …

Rethinking Gaming & Representation Within Digital Pedagogy: An Instructor’S Guide, Anthony Wheeler

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This work fully analyzes the creation process and implementation of a deeply-structured social commentary in the form of a digital interactive-fiction, created in the open software known as Twine. My co-developer, Raven Gomez, and I created a game that explores the challenges of navigating spaces within higher education as someone who identifies as something considered to be “other” by the standards of the common Western curriculum. Once the infrastructure of the product itself is outlined, this work follows students in an English Composition I course throughout their experiences creating digital interactive-fiction games based on pivotal moments in their lives that …

Wakanda College Retention Program: Developing Black And Brown Young Men, William A. Mchenry

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Currently, urban education is filled with great disparities related to issues of equity and access to a quality education for African American and Mexican American male students in secondary education settings. These groups are plagued with negative stereotypical images and subjected to the belief that they are inherently inferior to White students and incapable of academic and social success. Their social capital, which stems from their racial diversity, is not celebrated on any level in any educational space. Research for this study will show how the Wakanda College Retention program (WCR) has successfully addressed this disparity by employing the use …

“Because Like – And So I Don’T – So I Think It’S Maybe, I Don’T Know”: Performing Traumatic Effects While Reading Lynda Barry’S The Freddie Stories, David Lewkowich, Michelle Miller Stafford

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

As a picture of childhood composed from the point of view of a young boy named Freddie, who suffers the effects of repeated and ongoing trauma, the experience of reading The Freddie Stories presents a number of interpretive challenges: its main character is often split and in various states of disassociation, the difference between dreaming and waking life is not always obvious, multiple monsters appear in different and changeable forms, and as Freddie experiences repeated difficulties with language and cognitive function, his traumatic past enfolds upon the time in which the story is set. In this paper, we analyze how …

Midline Movement: The Positive Effects On Student Behavior In A Kindergarten Classroom, Ashley Ludlow

Education | Master's Theses

Educators are realizing the unrealistic expectations on students to be quiet and sit still for extended periods of their day (Donnelly & Lambourne, 2011). Some educational advocates have been reintroducing movement into the school day in response to research that indicates the importance of extracurricular activities on developing the whole child (Hannaford, 1995). Movement, connection, touch, play, and creative endeavors have been shown to be critical components to teaching students to be well-rounded individuals (Hannaford, 1995). This study explores how movements and activities that cross the midline affect a student's focus and ability to learn in the classroom. Cultivating an …

Dialectic Of Empathy. A Book Review Of Educating For Empathy: Literacy Learning And Civic Engagement, Dan Deweese

Democracy & Education

In Educating for Empathy: Literacy Learning and Civic Engagement, Mirra describes the value of teaching “critical civic empathy” in K–12 literacy classrooms. Distinguished from standard curricular uses of empathy that stress politeness at the level of the individual, critical civic empathy challenges students to take active steps toward questioning how imbalances of power and privilege arise and what assumptions should be questioned in order to address those imbalances. Mirra examines various teachers who center social issues in their literacy classrooms through the use of literature, the techniques of high school debate, research methodologies that see students as knowledge producers, …

Art Therapy In Public Education, Sophie Edelman

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review explores the history of art therapy in education. By understanding the history it is clear that art therapy has always been a positive force for students. By learning from the successes and challenges in our history we are better able to plan for future programing and expansion of art therapy programs. Because art therapy was developed in part by educators, the history of art therapy itself is linked with the history of art therapy in schools. In today’s application of art therapy in education there are three models most typically used. The research discusses the strengths and …

Centering Community Voices Through Children's Literature: Co-Authoring An #Ownvoices Picture Book For The Maine Migrant Education Program, Melanie Shelton

Master's Theses

Since its inception, the field of migrant education has been characterized by a tension between honoring the subjectivity of migrant families and positioning them as victims. This same tension exists in the analysis of children’s picture books that depict the daily lives of migrant farmworkers. In response to Eve Tuck’s (2009) call for a moratorium on damage-centered research in the field of education, this report describes the collaboration process between a representative of the Maine Migrant Education Program and a migrant

farmworker and her family to write, illustrate, and present an autobiographical picture book. Las aventuras, travesuras, y peligros del …

The High Lonesome Sound In Little Voices: The Use Of Appalachian Balladry In The Early Childhood Classroom, Lance Piao

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Although both music and poetry are thoroughly-integrated into the Early Childhood classroom, the ballad, their intersection, has not been studied. Appalachian music features a prominent tradition of balladry, a synthesis of several different music traditions. With the increased interest in Appalachian Studies after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the study of Appalachian custom has become increasingly relevant. From a critical-historical perspective, the ballads, their collection, and their analysis have been used to perpetuate the oppressive structures that have come under increased scrutiny since 2016. This study is a hypothetical curriculum for integrating the study of Appalachian ballads into the Early …

Effects Of Participation In The Summit Learning Platform By Gender On Student Academic Achievement, Taryn Enjoli Echols

College of Education Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the effects by gender of the Summit Learning Platform on student achievement in mathematics, English, reading, and Science measured by the ACT Aspire Summative Assessment for ninth-grade students in four schools in Arkansas. This study provides an in-depth study of mastery learning versus personalized learning through the Summit Learning Platform. The theoretical framework is centered on the comparisons of the mastery mode of learning. Schools A and D participated in the Summit Learning Platform for 2 years. Schools B and C did not participate in the personalized learning platform. Scores from 120 …

Implementing Writers’ Workshop Into The Special Education Classroom, Taylor Denning

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

Writers’ Workshop has developed prominence as a method towards providing authentic writing experiences. The purpose of this study was to determine what happens to student perceptions and quantity of writing when Writers’ Workshop is implemented into a special education setting. This study took place in a self-contained special education classroom of third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders. Data was collected through focus group interviews with the teachers, focus groups with two students from every grade, perception surveys, and writing samples.

Surveys and focus group interviews were completed before and after the implementation. Writing samples were collected at the beginning, middle, and end …

Teacher Perceptions And Implementation Of A Content-Area Literacy Professional Development Program, Osha Lynette Smith, Rebecca Robinson

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The Common Core State Standards recommend that all educators equip students with the literacy skills needed for college and careers. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine middle-level content-area teachers’ perspectives on a district-led literacy professional development program and their implementation of the literacy strategies they learned. The conceptual framework included Bruner’s constructivist, Bandura’s self-efficacy, and Knowles’s andragogy theories. These theories informed the investigation of adult learners’ perspectives regarding the way they learn and gain confidence in providing literacy instruction. Eleven English, math, science, and social studies teachers participated in the study through individual interviews. Data were …

A High School Curriculum That Will Help Prepare Students For A Life Outside Of Academics, Kaitlyn Witt

Honors Projects

Current high school curriculums are detailed to push students towards a college education. However, the curriculum does not prepare students for a life outside of academics. After creating a survey, the results showed that individuals that have completed their high school education do not feel prepared to enter the adult world. The individuals that took the survey responded that they did not feel comfortable managing their finances or cooking a meal on their own. In order to help prepare students for a life outside of the education, individuals in charge of creating a curriculum need to make revisions. After conducting …

Global Citizenship Education In Homeschooling Practices And Experiences In Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, And Pennsylvania, Bethany Shackelford

Capstone Collection

Global citizenship education (GCED) has moved to the forefront of U.S. education policy. The core tenets of GCED are knowledge, skills, behaviors, actions, attitudes, and values. Through these tenets, GCED strives to prepare students to be contributing members of society through making positive change. In this study, I examined the extent to which GCED was integrated in homeschooling education in eight families located in four Northeastern states, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

The findings derived from individual interviews and surveys with homeschooling parents and their adult children as well as document analysis demonstrate that seven of the eight …

From Theory To Practice: Establishing The Classroom As The Setting For Race Talk Through The Intentional Analysis And Discussion Of Poems By Authors Of Color, Cree Taylor

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Modern-day racism exists in mostly subtle ways and is often felt most keenly in the classroom. When schools began the legal integration process in 1954, Black teachers were fired, all-Black schools were closed, and Black students were bused to the formerly all-White schools. In this new environment, Black students and all Students of color were forced to accept and adapt to an educational system that favored Whites over all other racial groups. Today, White Supremacy in education affects the establishment of state and national standards, school and district boundaries, and the un-fair disciplinary action taken against Students of Color. In …

Teaching Spanish In The United States In The Digital Age: Strategies And Approaches On Teaching Spanish In Online And Hybrid Classes, Liane She, Eli Sears

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

Virtual technologies are omnipresent in everyday life and are becoming essential to either online, or hybrid classes. In higher education institutions in the United States, virtual platforms are increasingly used for teaching Spanish as a foreign language to students from varying backgrounds. As such, this article proposes an approach to teaching grammar in virtual spaces, that takes into account the communicative goals established in a given syllabus. The methods and strategies we propose offer an attractive language course that allows students to remotely learn and practice a language. As Spanish professors who teach beginning to intermediate level students, we will …

Letter From The Editor

Georgia Journal of Literacy

A Letter from the Editor

About The Authors

Georgia Journal of Literacy

Read this to learn more about this issue's authors.

Queering The Curriculum: Establishing Equity For Lgbtqia Students And Educators In Michigan, Miranda Findlay

All NMU Master's Theses

This project examines the state of Michigan’s efforts in creating an equitable learning and working environment for LGBTQIA K-12 students and educators, explicitly focusing on 11^th and 12^th grade English Language Arts (ELA) standards. In the first chapter, I evaluate the relationship between queer theory and pedagogy and illuminate the need to implement queer pedagogy in teaching K-12 ELA classes. The following chapter reviews the progressive state of California for its promotion of culturally responsive pedagogy and its inclusion of LGBTQIA topics in its K-12 curriculum. The third chapter analyzes Michigan legislature and policies to highlight gaps that …

Process Drama: A Creative Way To Assess Ela Understanding, Nicole Rausch

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

With increasing demands and decreasing amounts of instructional time, teachers are constantly looking for creative ways to integrate, assess, and target instruction to meet the needs of each student. This article takes a look at how one teacher employed the use of a highly engaging process drama to teach and assess multiple subject area content standards. A process drama is remarkably creative, social, and applicable so can be easily adapted to meet the needs of any grade level. The low floor, high ceiling project allows students multiple avenues to demonstrate understanding of skills and concepts.