“A Rain of Ideas”: Complexities and Opportunities in Immigrant Students’ Prior Knowledge in History Classrooms

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Exploring Complex Identities: Historical Inquiry and Citizenship in Education (Table 6)

Abstract

Research demonstrates that drawing upon students’ life experiences and prior knowledge can support learning. However, scholars seek to better understand opportunities and challenges that student experiences and knowledge can present. Using funds of knowledge and decolonial frameworks, this qualitative study illustrates tensions and complexities that emerge in a social studies classroom with recently arrived immigrant students. Specifically, illustrations describe students 1) drawing upon trauma, 2) presenting controversial background knowledge and 3) sharing knowledge that does not map onto traditional social studies curriculum. Engaging with complexities that may arise when immigrant students share prior knowledge and experiences in social studies classrooms has implications for educators who seek to democratize the ways knowledge is privileged in United States’ classrooms.

Author

• Elizabeth E. Schuster, University of Washington