LGBTQ Social Studies and the Next Class: A Transfer Task and Opinion Change

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 33
  In Roundtable Session: Queer Approaches to Pedagogy and Curriculum

Abstract

A new college preparatory course at a high school focuses on the gay rights movement, the AIDS crisis, the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists, and historic events. The LGBTQ social studies course is the first of its kind in San Francisco and a rarity in public schools. This study explores how students who completed the course incorporated multiple perspectives through the use of digitized primary sources for an Advanced Placement (AP) 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, if at all, the LGBTQ course encouraged students to be more open to multiple perspectives and changing their own opinions.

Authors

• Laura Moorhead, San Francisco State University

• Jeremy D. Jimenez, Stanford University