Exposure to Diverse Perspectives: Teacher Reports of Eighth-Grade Students' Engagement With an Identity Unit

• In Event: Antecedents and Consequences of Student Emotion and Engagement

Abstract

Through 36 interviews with teachers and instructional coaches piloting a new 8th grade civics curriculum, this study identified variation in exposure to diverse perspectives as a key challenge in implementing an identity unit in demographically different schools. We found that exposure to diverse perspectives exists along two dimensions: 1) students’ prior knowledge and experience engaging with academic content related to diversity and 2) students’ social contexts, or lived experience related to issues of diversity. The findings suggest that students’ exposure to diverse perspectives influence their engagement with the content of a unit on identity and values. The overlap in the two dimensions also creates a framework that future research should address, with a focus on the role of teacher identity.

Authors

• Lisa Utzinger Shen, Harvard University

• Kelley L. O'Carroll

• Leslie Duhaylongsod, Salem State University

• Danielle Allen, Harvard University