Shifting Lenses to Deepen Reflection and Connection in Human Sexuality Education

Photovoice, a participatory action research method, supports deep, personal reflection through the use of photography, personal narrative development, and group discussion. This lesson plan describes the use of Photovoice as a pedagogical tool in an undergraduate human sexuality course. The goal of this activity is to encourage students to 1) think beyond the texts presented in class, 2) make critical connections to their own lived experience and community context, and 3) deepen reflection through sharing and discussing with others. The lesson plan describes the process of bringing Photovoice into the classroom as well as student insights on the activity.     

Clinical Practice and the Decline of Community

Abstract

Many social workers consider praxis central to their practice. The concept, developed by Paulo Freire to capture the interaction between action and reflection, can be challenging to apply. PRACSIS is a framework represented in grid form that can help social work students understand and use the concept of praxis in a thoughtful and explicit way. This paper describes the rationale for and application of PRACSIS: Practitioner Reflection on Actions, Characteristics and Situation, by Impact and Strategies. Results indicate that use of PRACSIS can help develop critical consciousness, including implications for practice, and can thus benefit social work educators, students, practitioners, and-ultimately-consumers.     

From Rhymes to Resistance: Hip-Hop as a Critical Lens in Promoting Socially Just Teaching

If an educator is to take a critical stance, teach students to do the same, and design lessons that engage students in thoughtful discussions and actions surrounding issues of social justice, then discussions of politics, race, culture, economics and systems of power are crucial to this work, and, the use of hip-hop is a worthwhile endeavour. In this article, three educators from very diverse backgrounds who have experiences at elementary and college levels, consider the ways in which hip-hop music and culture speaks to the lived experiences of students and has the potential to lend a voice to the seemingly voiceless while also meeting the demands imposed by mandated standards. Within the framework of critical pedagogy/critical consciousness, we discuss hip-hop pedagogy as a channel for capitalising on students’ lived experiences.     

Distributed Problem-Based Learning in Social Economy--Key Issues in Students' Mastery of a Structured Method for Education

This paper describes students' use of distributed problem-based learning (dPBL) in university courses in social economy. A sociocultural framework is used to analyze the actions of students, focusing their mastery of dPBL. The main data material consists of messages written in an asynchronous conferencing system. Results from the study suggest that when students engage in dPBL they take responsibility for their learning by creating necessary artifacts. Students gradually establish mutual agreement among the group members using a highly conversational approach. Establishing function on a group level is crucial for mastery of dPBL. When students comment on other students' work they exchange feedback in a collegial manner. Commenting on each other's comments promotes community building in a way that fosters reciprocity as well as engagement.     

Giving Back to the Web: Social Filtering of World Wide Web Resources in High School Science

Can high school students become contributors as well as users on the World Wide Web? This research explores a new Web-based curriculum idea, that of having students write and publish critical “reviews” of scientific resources. Writing reviews can be a means of both practicing critical evaluation of Web resources, and of making an authentic value-added contribution to the Web. This paper presents content analyses of 41 source documents and 63 critical reviews published by 11th grade students in a project-based science class. The source documents are described as to their publishing source, use of organizational elements, and use of graphics. Two aspects of student-written critical evaluation are analyzed: evaluation of organization and evaluation of graphics. While evaluations of graphics were somewhat thin in these reviews, this was due mostly to the lack of good content representations in the source documents. The on-line review form did successfully prompt students to make conceptual connections between organizational structure and their own sense-making process. Reviews also sometimes showed students engaged in perspective-taking related to potential readers. The literature review of this paper examines critical evaluation models and current social filtering models for large, distributed databases. A section on future directions for Web reviews describes a review-publishing system developed for the University of Michigan Digital Library system.     

Strengthening the Signature Pedagogy of Social Work: Conceptualizing Field Coordination as a Negotiated Social Work Pedagogy

ABSTRACT

Although field education is considered the signature pedagogy of social work, the work of field coordinators appear to remain peripheral to other aspects of social work education, such as coursework and research. In this article, we suggest that field coordination requires a far more complex set of knowledge and skills than merely matching students with placements based on availability and interest. Using critical and relational theories, this article conceptualizes field coordination as a negotiated pedagogy in which the coordinators navigate complex and often competing needs among students, field agencies, and social work practice. In making visible its nuances and intricacies, we suggest that field coordination is a critical relational pedagogy essential to advancing social work education.     

The Use of Decision Cases to Foster Critical Thinking in Social Work Students

This article discusses the vital importance of developing critical thinking skills in social work students and explores the use of case-based instruction as a means of fostering those skills. The challenges inherent in the teaching and assessment of critical thinking are addressed. The history and theoretical underpinnings for the use of decision cases as a valid and efficacious teaching tool are presented. Literature evaluating the outcomes of the case method and related strategies is reviewed.     

Becoming Teachers for Social Justice: Raising Critical Consciousness

This article shares processes and practices which foster students’ critical consciousness. Critical consciousness, the core of social justice teaching, is a heightened awareness of the world and the power structures that shape it. Teachers can become forces for equity and change by: challenging students to reflect critically on their beliefs and the sources of these beliefs; using text to guide students to look outwards and discover the perspectives and challenges of others; selecting texts purposefully to heighten student awareness of issues of power and equity; teaching students to read texts critically, listening carefully for the points of view of others often ignored or silenced; creating space for dialogue beyond text; and finally, making the world their classroom, blurring the boundary between schools and communities as students research the world and take steps toward change in ways that recognize and re-value our common humanity. Becoming teachers for social justice entails moving students through intentional processes and practices to foster critical consciousness in the hope of effecting change.     

Beyond Diversity Courses: Strategies for Integrating Critical Consciousness Across Social Work Curriculum

ABSTRACT. This paper advances the knowledge base of social work education by employing a critical social work framework to inform teaching strategies that 1) raise critical consciousness, 2) uncover privileged positions that inform research, and 3) conceptualize social work practice that disrupts privilege and oppression. The premise of a need for such strategies arises from examination of the social work educational policies and standards that require attention to the experiences and conditions of marginalized populations. The conceptual and teaching approach described in this paper extends this standard via the examination of the privileged social identities and the ensuing behaviors that perpetuate oppressive practices and conditions among marginalized groups. A conceptual foundation for this approach is elucidated and teaching strategies for exploring privileged social locations are presented.     

Changes in Social Capital and Networks: A Study of Community-Based Environmental Management Through a School-Centered Research Program

Social network analysis (SNA) is a social science research tool that has not been applied to educational programs. This analysis is critical to documenting the changes in social capital and networks that result from community based K-12 educational collaborations. We review SNA and show an application of this technique in a school-centered, community based environmental monitoring research (CBEMR) program. This CBEMR employs K-12 students, state and local government employees, environmental organization representatives, local businesses, colleges, and community volunteers. As citizen scientists and researchers, collaborators create a database of local groundwater quality to use as a baseline for long-term environmental health management and public education. Past studies have evaluated the reliability of data generated by students acting as scientists, but there have been few studies relating to power dynamics, social capital, and resilience in school-centered CBEMR programs. We use qualitative and quantitative data gathered from a science education program conducted in five states in the northeastern United States. SPSS and NVivo data were derived from semi-structured interviews with thirty-nine participants before and after their participation in the CBEMR. Pajek software was used to determine participant centralities and power brokers within networks. Results indicate that there were statistically significant increases in social capital and resilience in social networks after participation in the school-centered CBEMR program leading to an increased community involvement in environmental health management. Limiting factors to the CBMER were based on the educator/administration relationship.     

Not Your Usual Maths Course: critical mathematics education for adults

This article describes an action research project that investigated which features of critical theory were useful for teaching everyday mathematics in an evening course for adults. Paulo Freire's philosophy of education and Jürgen Habermas’ theory of knowledge interests are among the main influences on exponents of critical mathematics education such as Ole Skovsmose and Marilyn Frankenstein. Through the use of dialogical processes and critical reflection, students engage in social and political issues in their lives or communities and, as a result of their increased consciousness and mathematical learning, take “transforming action”. This study highlights the value of learning in a positive environment, through dialogical processes and critical questioning. Participants of the study were able to overcome barriers to learning mathematics; engage in everyday issues involving mathematics; and make changes to the way they dealt with mathematics, as a result of increased critical consciousness.     

Setting the Stage for Action: Teaching Social Justice in the Middle School Classroom

Abstract

In an effort to better understand what it means to enact curriculum that helps students conceptualize issues of injustice and racism, this article describes an approach to comply with mandated responsibilities while offering curriculum that promotes an understanding of social justice and equity in the community. Challenges and barriers to implementation of these curricular changes are also described, as well as guidance to those who wish to begin the process of enacting curriculum that pushes students to critically consider power, justice, and fairness within their community.     

A snapchat story: how black girls develop strategies for critical resistance in school

ABSTRACT

Drawing from Black, feminist epistemologies as well as theories of critical consciousness, and adolescent digital literacies, this paper analyzes the narratives of 7 Black, female high school students who experience oppressive practices, including racial microaggressions, silencing, harsh discipline, and marginalization within a predominately White school environment. At this juncture in which race, politics, and activism intersect with school, media, and identity, this study discusses how Black, female students resist oppression and use digital and social media as well as other available tools to speak out against injustice and heighten the racial awareness of their school community. This qualitative case study uses individual and focus group interviews to examine the ways in which Black female students develop critical resistance strategies, working individually and collectively within existing structures to fight for their humanity and liberation.     

Critical Thinking: Art Criticism as a Tool for Analysing and Evaluating Art,Instructional Practice and Social Justice Issues

Recent educational initiatives have emphasised the importance of fostering critical thinking skills in today's students in order to provide strategies for becoming successful problem solvers throughout life. Other scholars advocate the use of critical thinking skills on the grounds that such tools can be used effectively when considering social justice issues. In this article we make the case that the teaching and learning strategies of analytic art criticism can serve as fundamental tools used not just for the study of art but can also centre critical thinking and analysis in all aspects of the art education curriculum. Our argument begins with a review of literature on the use of art criticism for critical thinking and meaning making. Then we describe our efforts to address critical thinking with our students by using the critical analysis model of art criticism and applying it to learning environments for forming reasoned judgments about teaching and learning, and also as springboard for examining social justice issues. We believe that promoting this form of affectively driven, intellectually guided critical thinking makes our students potentially more successful not just in their encounters with art and education, but also in their lives as human beings beyond school.     

Blending Voices: Autoethnography as a Vehicle for Critical Reflection in Social Work

Critical reflection is important to vital process issues within social work practice; thus, it warrants attention in teaching and supervisory contexts. Autoethnography is a newer qualitative research methodology that uses the experiences of the author/researcher to extend social science understanding (Sparkes, 2000). In this article, the authors use autoethnography to frame critical reflection as a process of exploring social work knowledge and its potential implications, given that such knowledge is situated within fragmented and diverse selves and identities. Thus, good autoethnography is a unique way of accessing knowledge within intersubjective realities, which simultaneously generates a form of critical reflection (the comparison and assessment of emergent knowledge situated within selves and identities). Purposely incorporating an autoethnographic strategy, the authors draw from their experiences to show how personal narratives, the core of autoethnography, might be used to infuse critical reflection into social work education and practice.     

Latino bilingual teachers: the struggle to sustain an emancipatory pedagogy in public schools

This study examines how socially conscious bilingual Latino educators, specifically prepared to teach underserved children, resist multiple layers of hegemonic structures. The participants are five beginning Spanish bilingual teachers who teach in urban and semi-rural elementary schools. The study explores how their resistance unfolds as they develop and become critical educators and how their presence in schools provides children with the potential to develop social consciousness. This participatory research design uses dialogue as a tool to identify the problem, to facilitate the emergence of voice, to construct new knowledge, and to take action. Several themes surface: (1) the isolation of bilingual teachers, (2) the manifestations of power relations among students, (3) the use of a culturally bound pedagogy, (4) the countering of hidden curriculum through critical pedagogy, and (5) development of identity and voice for both students and teachers. The participating Latino teachers linked their social consciousness with an emergent critical pedagogy, which sustained them as they encounter many obstacles in their new profession.     

Strength and Motivation: What College Athletes Bring to Social Work

College athletes develop many strengths and skills during their athletic career, such as dedication, ability to work across cultures, leadership, and community building. Social workers need many of these same skills. This study explores the potential transfer of skills from athletics to social work among 15 former college athlete MSW students. Qualitative interviews asked about transferability of skills developed as college athletes to social work practice. Participants identified both interpersonal and intrapersonal skills gained in their athletic career that were of use in social work practice. Implications for both athletic career development and social work recruitment and education are discussed.     

Engaging Students in Autobiographical Critiqueas a Social Justice Tool: Narratives of Deconstructingand Reconstructing Meritocracy and PrivilegeWith Preservice Teachers

This self-study involves instructors of a Social Justice in Education course at a large university who engaged preservice teacher education students with assignments intended to solicit their critical self-reflection and to facilitate an awareness of themselves as sociocultural beings. Our work responds to the continued need to involve preservice teachers in experiences that foster critical consciousness and cognizance of their own socialization. For the assignments, students were first asked to describe key moments in their educational experience in the form of a multimedia submission and reflection. After a semester of critical discussions and readings, students were then asked to revisit their initial projects and critique those using course concepts. In addition, they were prompted to include plans for themselves as future social justice educators. In this article, we analyze those student submissions, and we find that many reached new conclusions about social justice topics such as race and gender, critiqued personal and social artifacts, and recognized the connections between privilege and meritocracy. Despite the limitations in class size and structure, we affirm the potential value of a multistage autobiography assignment. We also explore instances of student resistance, wherein students avoided the assigned task and our requirement for self-reflection. We conclude by offering implications for teacher education and posit considerations for future adaptions of the assignment, including the necessity to engage students in opportunities to take social action and to move beyond critique.     

大学生社会公德研究综述

为全面了解当代大学生的社会公德意识与践行以及接受相关教育的情况,以构建一个切实可行的大学生社会公德教育体系,通过梳理过去几十年来国内外与大学生社会公德相关的研究成果,发现学者们主要就大学生社会公德意识现状、大学生社会公德失范现象的原因及教育的对策展开了研究。研究结果表明:尽管当代大学生对社会公德有一定的理解,但这并不意味着他们的实际行为达到了如此高的水平。当代大学生在思想认识与实际行为之间存在着巨大的反差。因此,我们在构建适应新型社会环境的社会公德教育体系时,应重点放在如何促使大学生对社会公德的自觉践行上。