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Foundations of American History: Minority Representation in K-12 Social Studies Education

 

Description of research project:

This project studies the ways in which minority groups are represented and included within narratives of U.S. history and how that representation affects ideas of the nation, especially who is seen as playing an active role in “creating America.” The main data sources will be K-12 state social studies standards (curriculum guidelines) and history textbooks. Analysis will focus on the representation (or lack thereof) of numerous historically marginalized groups, including those based on race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, and sexuality, within these sources. The project will consider regional variation, through a comparison of curriculum guidelines and textbook usage across states, and change over time, through a comparison of previous and current state curriculum guidelines.  

Description of work that will be assigned to research assistants (i.e. transcription, coding, preliminary analysis of data, etc.):

The primary role of research assistants will be to code state social studies standards, using a pre-established codebook, to identify themes and patterns of interest within these curriculum guidelines. No previous coding experience is expected or required. We will start the semester by discussing how to code in this way, how this work fits into the rest of the research project, and how the coded data will be analyzed. This activity will provide students with a "behind the scenes" look at the research process. Research assistants will also develop their own independent research skills by contributing to the project’s literature review. With guidance, students will explore in more depth the area of this project that most interests them, which could include literature on minority representation in education, the relationship between culture and history education, the politics of inclusion, ideas of the nation, etc. Students will be asked to find relevant sources on the topic of their choice and create an annotated bibliography of the articles they read throughout the semester. This process will provide students with practice in locating and analyzing secondary sources in order to contribute to a broader topic and project.
 

Supervising Faculty Member: Robert Jansen

Graduate Student: Kimberly Hess

Contact information: Kimberly Hess - hesske@umich.edu

Average hours of work per week: 6-12

Range of credit hours students can earn: 2-4

Number of positions available: 3