(Un)Restricting feminism: High school students' definitions of gender and feminism in the context of the historic struggle for women's rights (original) (raw)
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2015
OF DISSERTATION “TAKING THE STAIRS” TO BREAK THE CEILING: UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ CONCEPTIONS OF THE INTERSECTIONS OF HISTORICAL AGENCY, GENDER EQUITY, AND ACTION The present quasi-naturalistic study used socio-cultural theory (Wertsch, 1998), picture theory (Mitchell, 1994) and the use of historical agency as a second-order concept (Lee & Ashby, 2000; Seixas & Morton, 2013) as a way of examining the historical thinking of high school seniors as they investigated second-wave feminism. Existing literature reflects the ways in which students understand historical agency (Barton, 1997; Winter, 2001; Peck, Poyntz, & Seixas, 2011), but has yet to examine its use as a conceptual tool to dissect controversial issues in history, such as feminism. The main research question was: in what ways do high school seniors employ historical agency as an analytical lens in examining second wave feminism? Supporting research questions included: (1) In what ways do high school seniors make sense of hist...
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Learning about the historical traditions of social change movements is critical for today's students. Students need social justice role models to understand what has changed as a result of people's organized and individual efforts over time. Students need to learn from the successes and challenges of past movements in order to know that change is not only possible but that they, too, can be change agents. When exposed to the depth and breadth of activist histories -histories of which they usually have little to no knowledge of -students start to think more critically about their own education. They begin to consider what narratives they have been taught and what/who have been left out.
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Frontiers in Education, 2022
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Women's Studies International Forum, 2023
This research investigates the conceptions of primary and secondary feminist teachers about how to teach women's history in the north of Spain. Eighty-eight teachers were asked to describe a teaching proposal for implementing women's history in their classrooms, and the content was analysed using the Reinert method. Our findings reveal a set of issues that may be of interest to address in history classes, as well as some ways in which teachers could introduce women's history in their lessons. We conclude that only teachers who defined themselves as absolutely or very feminist tend to offer teaching proposals with a critical and transformative viewpoint, following an optimal vision of women's history without any androcentric bias.
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.
The present naturalistic study examined the historical thinking of thirteen pre-service social studies teachers as they used historical agency as lens to investigate the Second Wave feminist movement. Existing literature reflects the ways in which students understand historical agency, but has yet to examine its use as a conceptual tool to dissect controversial issues in history, such as feminism. Data included teacher candidates' responses to a survey questionnaire, researcher notes from teacher candidates' participation in a historical thinking exercise, teacher candidates' responses to follow-up questions after the historical thinking exercise, and a small subset of partner interviews. Results indicated pre-service teachers not only rely upon narratives of individual agency and progress, but also see instructional value in using historical photographs to spark secondary students' civic action. Furthermore, teacher candidates struggled to unravel their own constructs of gender away from their interpretation of the agency of men and women in the past. The consideration of pre-service teachers' historical thinking and its connection to their teacher purpose and rationale provides insight into finding new ways to support teacher candidates as they struggle to open up the gate to a more inclusive history curriculum.
An Avenue for Challenging Sexism: Examining the High School Sociology Classroom
JSSE - Journal of Social Science Education, 2016
In this interpretative qualitative study, the researchers investigated the beliefs and practices of six high school sociology teachers in relation to the teaching of gender. Using a feminist lens, this study employed mixed methods, analyzing teacher interviews, observations, and classroom artifacts. The results showed that the teachers viewed sociology as different from other social studies courses, because it serves as a more intentional way to reduce sexism and gender stratification. As such, the teachers saw the sociology classroom as a place for students to grapple with issues of gender stratification and inequity. Teachers’ beliefs related to gender and sexism strongly influenced what they saw as the purpose of sociology class, and it influenced the instructional practices that they used. Recommendations are made related to professional development around issues of gender equity.
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