Conversations About Class: Results From a Curriculum Intervention With Elementary School Students

• In Event: Democratic Citizenship in Education Paper Session 3

Abstract

Children’s reasoning about social class develops early, yet little attention has been paid to teaching children about wealth and poverty. Researchers and teachers designed, implemented, and evaluated an inquiry wealth and poverty unit targeting early elementary grades. Participants were 89 kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd graders (M = 6.81 years old, SD = .93); split between intervention and control classrooms. Kindergarten intervention students were more likely than control students to provide fatalistic attributions for poverty and mention possessions when asked what it means to be rich and poor. Primary intervention students were more likely than control students to provide structural causes for wealth and compare relative experiences of the lives of rich and poor individuals. Implications for practice are discussed.

Authors

• Katherine M Griffin, University of California - Los Angeles

• Taylor Hazelbaker, University of California - Los Angeles

• Lindsey Nenadal, University of California - Los Angeles

• Rashmita Mistry, University of California - Los Angeles