Using Research to Drive Curricula: A Case Study of “Rethinking the Region” and Approaches to Teaching in the Middle East and North Africa

• In Event: Poster Session 5
  In Poster Session: Using Research to Drive Curricula: A Case Study of “Rethinking the Region” and Approaches to Teaching in the Middle East and North Africa

Abstract

This paper explores the possibilities and challenges of engaging in cross-disciplinary research to generate curricula that disrupt historical constructions, specifically for US high school teachers and students. As past of a research team that investigated the ways in which the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are described and presented in the most commonly used US World History textbooks, the presenters will 1) describe the process of textbook analysis, 2) present the findings from their study, and 3) illuminate and share the ways in which curricula can respond to these findings. Consequently, the presenters take stock of the possibilities of educational research to spur innovative and culturally relevant curricular interventions for high school teachers.

Authors

• Maria Hantzopoulos, Vassar College

• Roozbeh Shirazi, University of Minnesota

• Zeena Zakharia, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher, University of Pennsylvania