Examining K–6 Preservice Teachers' Beliefs About the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and Social Justice Education

• In Event: 60.083 - Roundtable Session 19
  In Roundtable Session: 60.083-13 - Studies of Preservice Social Studies Teachers

Abstract

The US Civil Rights Movement (CRM) is ideal for building foundational concepts of social justice with Kindergarten-6 students; however, typical lessons focus on Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks narratives that teach character education rather than social justice. This case study used surveys and focus group interviews, examined primarily through a content analysis approach and critical discourse analysis, to study 66 pre-service teachers’ knowledge and beliefs before and after intervention lessons that use the CRM to teach social justice education. Overall, pre-service teachers gained knowledge of complex social and civic issues embedded within the CRM. They held conflicted beliefs about their elementary teachers’ failure to teach them fully about the CRM versus their own feelings of protectionism and nationalism.

Authors

• Janie Daniel Hubbard, The University of Alabama

• Holly H. Swain, The University of Alabama