Gendering Social Studies: Teachers' Intended and Enacted Curriculum and Student Diffraction (original) (raw)
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The Journal of Social Studies Research, 2019
Gender inequity is a persistent problem in the United States. While the high school social studies classroom should be an important space for addressing gender inequity, there is significant underrepresentation of women in the curriculum. Thus, it is crucial that we understand how self-described feminist social studies teachers present women and gender-equity in their classrooms. In this mixed-methods study, the researchers examined the beliefs and practices of six feminist-identifying teachers. The results reveal commonalities across teachers related to classroom discourses, curricular modifications, and professional practice, yet there were compelling differences based on whether or not the teacher subscribed to a critical feminist perspective or a liberal feminist perspective. While all the teachers in the study saw themselves as change agents, teachers who operated from a critical feminist lens focused more on structural gender inequity as a means to eliminate sexism, whereas teachers who operated from a liberal lens focused more on individual acts of sexism and greater inclusion of women-often individual women-in the curriculum. This study contributes to the scarce research on feminism in social studies and provides tools for practitioners who want practices that are more inclusive.
ATIKAN, 2013
The study assessed gender equity in the secondary Social Studies curriculum that served as a basis for a proposed guide in preparing gender fair instructional materials. A descriptive analysis of Secondary Social Studies curriculum was the primary method used in this study. The participants' perceptions on gender were compared and analyzed. Gender-fair education indicators served as criteria for comparison. The data gathered were processed qualitatively and quantitatively. The findings revealed that: (1) Indicators of gender biases in the learning environment were manifested in the learning environment, curriculum, and instructional processes; (2) Hidden curriculum plays an important role in informally transmitting values and attitudes in schools; (3) Leadership skill and tasks formerly given to male students were checked at present by female assertiveness; (4) Private and public school teachers and students differed in their perceptions on the learning environment; and (5) Gender-fair curriculum in Social Studies is a vital instrument in achieving equality, development, and peace.
Perceptions of Teaching Race and Gender: Results of a Survey of Social Studies Teachers
The High School Journal, 2018
This study reports the results of a survey on teaching race and gender from a sample of high school social studies teachers (N5309) across Massachusetts. Using critical race theory mixed methods, the results showed that (1) social studies teachers reported that they were comfortable teaching about race and gender, that race and gender inequity should be addressed in the social studies classroom, and that they regularly covered race-and gender-related topics; (2) teachers at moderate-poverty schools were more likely to teach about Latina/o, Asian, Arab/Middle Eastern, and Indigenous people than teachers in low and high poverty schools; and (3) teachers responded that race and gender were not adequately covered in the curriculum and they wanted more professional development on teaching race and gender.
Thinking critically about social studies : women’s perspectives
1993
Personal observation, supported by Ministry of Education statistics, indicates that women are underrepresented in social studies teaching in BC. Social studies is about how humans interact and have interacted in the social world. Yet, these interactions are defined largely by men and are about men. The experience of women as teachers of social studies is both little studied and extremely important for understanding the subject and improving its teaching. This thesis looks at their experiences, as constructed in the stories of six women who have been leaders in the teaching of social studies and geography. It draws from their personal and professional narratives some reflections on women's ways of understanding equity, pedagogy, curriculum, citizenship, and leadership.
GENDER ISSUES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL STUDIES CURRICULUM IN A UNIVERSITY
2016
The study investigated gender issues in the implementation of social studies curriculum in a University. The subjects for the study comprised of 124 students who are specializing Social Studies from 1st year to 4th year level enrolled this S.Y. 2016-2017. In the selection of respondents, no sampling was done because the small size of respondents was manageable and constituted a homogeneous social unit. Three research questions guided the study. Researchers adapted questionnaire containing 32 items used to collect data. The research design is descriptive quantitative design. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. The findings of the study revealed that the implementation of social studies curriculum is gender balanced and not gender biased in some relative extent. Finally, the study showed ways through which the social studies curriculum can be further improved for gender equity. Recommendations are made based on the findings. Keywords: social studies, gender issues, implementation
Preservice teacher talk surrounding gender
2012
This dissertation examines the discourses around gender present among a cohort of preservice secondary social studies teachers (n=25) and how gender discourses manifested throughout their preparatory year with particular interest paid to their thoughts about curricula, schools, and students. Using ethnographic study design, the author presents three significant moments that occurred throughout their preparatory year, and, for three focal students, interviews which occurred in their first year of teaching. Data include transcripts of three class sessions, completed assignments, reflective journals, and interviews. Building upon Thornton's (1991) work on teachers as "curricular-instructional gatekeepers," the author explores what guided the curricular decision making for the participants and, for the focal students, what discourses they decided to make space for in their first classrooms. Because gender is socially constructed, it is important for future teachers to examine what has contributed to the construction of their own gendered identities in order for them to be able to see how they as individuals and as members of a larger group contribute to the greater society. Through feminist poststructural discourse analysis, the author finds multiple and competing discourses around the gendered topics of sexual violence and how the students expressed their own genders as connected to culture. Intersections of race and social class with gender and the presence of emotion were important in how the students talked about gender. Also found was the uneven follow-through of implementing practices learned in their teacher education coursework in their first classrooms, and the reluctance of two focal students to include Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) topics in their v first classrooms. Additionally, the role of context is considered as essential to the students' decision whether to self-censor.
1997
This report focuses on ways constructions of gender inform teacher education students' curriculum experiences and teaching performance in primary schools, in particular regarding a gender inclusive curriculum. The remarks of eight students from a longitudinal study were analyzed using feminist post-structural theory as a means of understanding contradictory discourses and the process by which gender relations become "normalized." By examining "taken for granted" beliefs concerning gender, students were challenged to reexamine their own values,and see the importance of gender inclusive pedagogy and curriculum planning. Students were asked to explain their own understanding of gender relations, how they would address gender equity in their own classrooms, and how their course work enhanced or limited their understanding. Most students were able to demonstrate an awareness of ways gender relations were constituted in their lives and to "problematize" gender relations. Although students requested practical gender inclusive strategies for the classroom, during the interviews it became clear to the research team that providing courses and strategies might be a "band-aid" approach and so hinder students from achieving a deeper analysis. It also became clear that the researchers' commitment to feminism had made them somewhat "hard of hearing" when it came to the students and their interpretation of gender relations. (Contains 29 references.) (LH)
Using a Short-Term Unit to Engage Students in Thinking Critically about Gender
2016
Because middle school is a time of identity development, it may also be an appropriate time to focus on students ’ conceptions of social roles. This article examines a unit focused on gender roles taught to a group of seventh grade language arts students at a private, urban school. The students deconstructed and reconstructed their gender schemas, gained awareness of gender as a lens, and began to question the adequacy of the male/female binary model. The findings suggest that ideas typically found in college-level courses may have
International Journal of Multicultural Education, 2009
Because middle school is a time of identity development, it may also be an appropriate time to focus on students' conceptions of social roles. This article examines a unit focused on gender roles taught to a group of seventh grade language arts students at a private, urban school. The students deconstructed and reconstructed their gender schemas, gained awareness of gender as a lens, and began to question the adequacy of the male/female binary model. The findings suggest that ideas typically found in college-level courses may have appropriate applications in classrooms of much younger students.