Journal of Curriculum Studies Research
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Teachers Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Graphical Communication Concept: A Case of Four Selected Township Schools
Full text linkThis study investigated Grade 8 teachers’ challenges in Graphical Communication. The study made use of a qualitative research approach to conduct. A total of 10 Grade 8 teachers were planned to be purposively sampled for the study. However, due to COVID 19 restrictions, we ended up having eight Grade 8 teachers offering Technology subject. The Pedagogical Content Knowledge notion that was coined by Shulman was used to underpin the study as a framework. Data was collected through face to face interviews with the teachers as well as classroom observation during Graphical Communication concept teaching. Interview data was analysed using verbatim quotes whereas classroom observation was analysed descriptively. Findings of the study revealed that teachers are not adequately trained to teach Technology subject. Issues of classroom overcrowding and poor infrastructure also was a challenge. Teachers’ instructional strategies were also a concern and the use of traditional method is still widely employed in the teaching of the said concept. The study recommends that models be sought for abstract concepts to be learnt with ease. Schools need to secure qualified teachers for the subject in order for teaching and learning to be effective. Technology integration is also advised as a resource that would stimulate learning.
 
A Reductionist Approach in Curricular Planning for Teaching Language Arts
Full text linkContemporary education faces multiple challenges that encumber today’s public school teachers, especially those in English Language Arts (ELA). One aspect remaining consistent over the decades is the imbalance between the amount of curricular material teachers are directed to teach and the time school districts allot to do it. It is likely a contributing factor to burnout and attrition in the faculty workforce. This essay presents counterintuitive reasons for proposing the implementation of a “proof of concept” intra-school research project that would demonstrate the potential value of a reductionist approach to the amount of content required in curricular designs. It may have the potential to increase cognitive capability of students along with reducing stress on teachers; not only by curtailing the number of texts for student study, but by incorporating methodologies of how texts are selected, analyzed and taught as well as students’ creation of their own
Higher Education in Emergencies: The Case of Consociational North Macedonia
Full text linkEighteen years after the end of 2001 conflict between ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians, North Macedonia remains a country deeply polarized along ethno-national lines with implications for the maintenance of peace. The peace-building policies introduced by the Ohrid Framework Agreement (OFA) based on a consociational model of power-sharing have accommodated the demands of ethnic Albanians, including the right of access to higher education (HE) in the mother-tongue which represented one of the root-causes in the escalation of the 2001 conflict. The OFA’s exclusive focus on access and availability through state funding for higher education in the Albanian language has however favored a process of ethnicization of the tertiary sector. This paper seeks to investigate the unintended consequences of the OFA-induced ethnic self-ghettoisation within the public higher education system and, by the same token, it critiques the OFA’s lack of mechanisms to reach across the ethnic divide through the lenses of a rights-based approach to education. It ultimately argues that without a strong governmental commitment to deethnicize education by transcending the OFA’s intrinsic limits, power-sharing remains permeable to political manipulation which critically hampers social transformation and increases the probability of inter-ethnic tension, further weakening the peace process
Towards Abolition: Undoing the Colonized Curriculum
Full text linkRacial injustice has traditionally been observed from the viewpoint of its impact and outcomes. Subsequently, educators and policy makers have generally focused on outcomes; unequal opportunity structures, disparities in educational achievement, the school-to-prison pipeline, disproportional health indicators, incarceration rates, and harsher punishment in school and judicial systems, are just a few of the contexts by which this nation’s racialized roots can be measured for present day mistreatment and disparate outcomes for minoritized populations. As policy makers and educators look to the impact of racial injustice, a true ontological vantage would reveal the cause as well as the perpetuation of these outcomes. As the current COVID-19 pandemic continues, and with increased interest in online learning, it is vital that teachers and professors seek new pedagogy and tools to teach about racism. Our study examined whether a virtual 1-hour presentation on white humanists influences students’ understanding of racial justice. Our research demonstrates that a colonized curriculum impacts student’s outlook on the world and themselves. Inversely, when we expose students to humanists throughout history, we are able to show that white people have a legacy and responsibility to fight for racial justice. This provides students with alternative models – beyond those that perpetuate white supremacy
Inclusive Online Teaching and Digital Learning: Lessons Learned in the Time of Pandemic and Beyond
Full text linkWhen the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world in 2020 and into 2021, the entire system of education faced the most challenging task to provide education to students using virtual instruction. Within the United States specifically, the pandemic transformed teaching. Teachers were and have continued to be compelled to learn digital technology and integrate varied digital tools into their instruction. As guest editors, Eric and I had the opportunity to reflect on the many instructional challenges and valuable lessons learned about virtual teaching and learning in k-12 and higher education. One of the biggest lessons observed was exposure of huge equity gaps between the tech haves and have nots, regarding access to digital devices and reliable Wi-Fi. It was from this observation that the call for proposals of this special issue was developed. What does inclusion look like in the era of digital and virtual teaching? With this in mind, we were tasked to coedit this special issue of JCSR focusing on the theme “Inclusive Curriculum in the Era of Digital & Virtual Learning.” We had the opportunity to review five exemplary articles responding to the theme
Digital storytelling as a tool for reflection in virtual reality projects
Full text linkReflection is essential for learning and development, especially among middle school students. In this paper, we describe how middle school students can engage in reflective learning by composing digital stories in a project-based learning environment employing virtual reality. Adopting multiple case study methods, we examined the digital stories of five students, together with classroom observations and interviews about their experiences, in order to explore how digital storytelling can allowed students to reflect upon their experiences in a year-end capstone program. Creating digital stories allowed students to 1) reflect on their learning experiences teaching younger students with virtual reality, 2) present their reflections in multiple modalities, and 3) make connections between their present experiences and the past and future. This study demonstrates how digital storytelling can enable multimodal reflection for middle school students, particularly within technology-focused project-based learning environments
Campus Attitudes Toward Academic and Social Inclusion of Students with Intellectual Disability
Full text linkEmpirical evidence suggests that college attendance by students with intellectual disability (ID) results in numerous short- and long-term academic and social benefits. However, insufficient literature has explored the attitudes of constituent groups of universities toward the social and academic inclusion of students with ID before introducing these students to educational programs on campus. This paper reports on the results of a survey applied to administrators, faculty, staff, and students of a Southeastern public university to examine their attitudes toward students with ID in college academics and social activities on campus. The differences in attitudes were also examined based on the participants’ academic discipline, gender, and role within the academic community. The results indicate that all constituencies on campus had positive attitudes toward the participation of students with ID in college academics. However, significant differences were found based on their academic disciplines; participants from the College of Education had the most positive attitudes, while those from the College of Business had the least positive responses. Recommendations for future research are included. The article emphasizes the benefits of planning inclusive post-secondary programs to include students with ID and create a welcoming education environment to provide the best possible education to all students
The Secreted Curriculum and Youth Education to Become the Professionals the World Craves for
Full text linkOver the decades, the world has had great people—in economics and education but what the world craves for as it grapples with social challenges are people with strong moral character. This article seeks to provoke discussions on the secreted curriculum and its role on youth’s learning of professionalism because much of youth’s professionalism learning comes not from the prescribed curriculum, but the secreted curriculum. The target population was 1246 undergraduate students in universities in Nairobi city County. The Yamane’s sample calculation formula was employed in determining the sample size and the sample was 486. In analyzing the quantitative data, the researcher utilized the SPSS software program version 25. The results revealed that influences of unplanned lessons arising from how we do what we do and say what we say have both negative and positive impact on youth’s acquisition of professional values. The researcher therefore proposes a thorough exploration of the humanistic climate (the secreted curriculum)
Towards Socially Just Literacy Teaching in Virtual Spaces
Full text linkThis study inquires into preservice teachers’ teaching experiences within a virtual tutoring field experience in a literacy methods course. Our work is situated against the greater institutional and social-political context of a competency-based model in education and the Covid-19 pandemic that led to a shift to online instruction. From a social justice lens, we approach the research questions: What are undergraduate preservice teachers’ literacy teaching experiences in a newly-transformed-to-online literacy methods course? In what ways does a virtual tutoring field experience prepare preservice teachers towards socially just literacy teaching? By engaging in Narrative Inquiry, we unraveled preservice teachers’ experiences in facilitating literacy lessons that combine print-based and multimodal instruction, while learning about the specific tensions and questions that they confronted during the process. We realized that preservice teachers’ virtual teaching experiences develop towards more socially just teaching along the areas of knowledge, interpretive frames, teaching strategies, methods, skills, and advocacy and activism. We further found that this approach is a complex process characterized by the personal, contextual, and relational aspects of teaching
Lessons Learned From a Rural Classroom Study: Transitioning From Concrete to Virtual Manipulatives to Teach Math Fact Fluency to Students With Learning Disabilities
Full text linkAs the use of technology has become more prevalent within the educational environment over the past decade, the emergence of the use of virtual manipulatives to support student learning in math has made transitioning to technology-infused math instruction unavoidable. Students in rural areas, however, have tended to receive far less technology-infused instruction due to the many challenges faced by rural schools that can adversely affect academic opportunities and disrupt equity in learning and teaching. In the current paper, we report on a classroom study conducted to examine whether the previously proven effects of concrete manipulatives can carry over into those of virtual manipulatives when teaching math fact fluency in multiplication and explored the potential for virtual manipulatives in rural classrooms from the teacher’s perspective. Quantitative and qualitative results both indicated a promising potential for usage of virtual manipulatives, with meaningful implications for practitioners. The educational implications for designing and planning effective instruction incorporating virtual manipulatives are discussed