"I Wish I Would Have Learned This in High School": Building Critical Consciousness in Undergraduate Ethnic and Gender Studies Courses

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: Multicultural/Multiethnic Education SIG Poster Session (San Diego)

Abstract

This paper focuses on college students’ perceptions of course content learned and discussed in the following Introductory Courses: Asian American Studies, Black Studies, Chicana and Chicano Studies and Feminist Studies. A total of 810 open-ended survey responses were analyzed. We apply the theoretical frameworks of ES pedagogy and of ES as a counternarrative to analyze our findings. Exposure to new information, policy tied to institutional racism, processing contemporary issues, and a nuanced understanding of beliefs emerged as the most prevalent themes. By centering student voices, our findings illuminate information that can assist in the curriculum development, teacher training, and implementation process of creating student-centered ES classrooms

Authors

• Jessica Nguyen, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Michael Nishimura, University of California, Santa Barbara

• Adanari Zarate, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Rebeca Mireles-Rios, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Andrea Hercules, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Lisa Park, University of California, Santa Barbara