LGBTQ/Ethnic Studies and the Next Class: A Look at a Transfer Task and Opinion Change in One Public High School

• In Event: ICA Interactive Paper/Poster Session I
  In Interactive Poster Session: Instructional and Developmental Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

A new college preparatory course focuses on giving voice to traditionally marginalized people by exploring the American experience through perspectives not typically discussed in U.S. history classes. Through the experience of ethnic minorities, the gay rights movement, the AIDS crisis, the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists, and historic events, the LGBTQ/Ethnic Studies course is likely the first of its kind in U.S. public schools. This study explores how students who completed the course communicated multiple perspectives and employed information literacy skills through the use of digitized primary sources and media artifacts for an Advanced Placement Government and Economics class assignment and how their work compared to others in the AP course. Through interviews, questionnaires, and student-generated content, the study reveals how and to what extent the LGBTQ ES course encouraged students to be more open to multiple perspectives and changing their own opinions.

Author

• Laura Moorhead, San Francisco State University