With a change in access to information and a rising social and political consciousness for young people, elementary schools must start to think more about their role in shaping kids' understanding of social issues. While researchers certainly have not agreed upon a single definition of social justice education, Bell (2016) defines its aim as…

Background: Data storytelling is an interdisciplinary practice that uses visual and narrative elements to engage an audience with data. Students need more opportunities across school curriculum to consider the connections between data and social and environmental contexts. Few studies have investigated how to support teachers in co-designing for…

The state of democracy facing expanding political division and pervasive racial and social inequalities. Discussing and deliberating controversial social and political issues functions help foster students' civic contribution. I conducted a qualitative case study and recruited 14 participants, with whom I conducted interviews, self-reflection,…

There is an ever-increasing need for technologically literate citizens to find creative ways to solve societal problems. STEM, the integration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects continues to be a popular topic as schools grapple with how to best prepare students for an ever-evolving society. As societal and technological…

Understanding a student's community and home life enables the professor to tailor the teaching method to support them best. Embracing the student's cultural background provides a nurturing that makes the environment more conducive to learning and gives credence to their well-being and place in society. If there is no cultural responsiveness, it…

Despite the widespread commitment of many colleges of education to advance equity and social justice using critical theories, many students exit teacher preparation programs without a tangible idea of how to enact critical theories within their classrooms. The dominant approach to fostering critical practices among preservice…

Today's students will face issues and problems that are global scale and require a collaborative global effort to resolve effectively. To help prepare students to resolve these global issues, students must learn to participate in the global democratic process as part of their citizenship education. In particular, scholars argue students need to…

This case study offers a recounting and analysis of the experiences of one urban educator, in a public high school mathematics classroom setting, working to integrate critical mathematics curricula and pedagogy with youth and in collaboration with a community organization. This project helps to unveil complexities that teachers may experience when…

Despite decades of passing civic initiatives to revitalize civic education, youth citizen participation, and young adult voter registration is low--most youth cannot even name one member of U.S. Congress. It also cannot be assumed youth will naturally become civically engaged and aware through their family and community. In addition, people of…

Engineering students need to prepare to address increasingly complex, contextual, and ambiguous problems in their future careers. Many students pursue engineering to improve societal problems and create innovative solutions. Yet, divergent thinking needed for creativity, and the consideration of multiple social issues and a variety of contexts, is…

This study investigated three teachers and their students at International School in Guatemala as they engaged with social issues through and with art. Student and teacher experiences were examined using critical theory, concerned with ideological conflicts that shape the curriculum and how knowledge is legitimated within schools and communities…

This dissertation investigates the extent to which a media audience's degree of technology acceptance (as a mediator) and interactivity of the media influence the user's sense of presence, enjoyment, and message engagement, and finally lead to attitude change (persuasion). The study also explores how the user processes a message and changes the…

College freshmen are expected to enter the university setting with some previous writing experience. Freshmen are then expected to become collegiate writers by completing first-year composition courses. Standard American English remains the language of power in the university, which is problematic to minority student groups, specifically students…

In this multiple case study, I asked ten practicing secondary educators in the Midwest to express the purposes and practices that drive their teaching regarding climate change education. The theoretical framework grounding this qualitative study is that of critical theory, in which one leverages critique to bring about social change. I analyzed…

This mixed methods dissertation explores the application of critical media literacy pedagogy in higher education. A review of the scholarly literature found that there are five hypothesized outcomes of a critical media literacy education: student engagement, empowerment, civic engagement, critical awareness of media, and adoption of a social…