Considering the Public Good During COVID-19: How Elementary Students Conceptualized Safety and Equity During the Pandemic

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Eight
  In Roundtable Session: Centering Youth Voices in Educational Research (Table 3)

Abstract

This study examines data from six third-grade classrooms from January 2020 to March 2020 in
midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. A ten-lesson curricular unit focused on civic thinking was
collaboratively developed by teachers and researchers across a school district. The curriculum
utilized locally-relevant issues and content, and COVID-19 was used as a central topic
throughout the unit. Students considered tensions between immigration and containment of
contagious illnesses through a historical lens, including immigrant screening on Ellis Island and
related health protocols, and how the U.S. should manage the pandemic. This article focuses
specifically on how third-grade students across these classrooms conceptualized, discussed, and
wrote about the civic tensions surrounding COVID-19.

Authors

• William Toledo, California State University - Fullerton
  Presenting Author

• Esther A. Enright, University of Maine
  Presenting Author