Linking for Thematic Thinking in a World Cultures Curriculum With Urban Youth of Color

• In Event: Examining Citizenship, Culture, and Community in the Social Studies

Abstract

This study draws from a 2.5-year collaborative World Cultures “thinking curriculum” aimed at providing 10th-grade students with scaffolds to support development of conceptual understandings through linking history and literature. Thirty-nine students from an urban high school serving primarily students of color explored social-justice oriented “cultural themes” in texts and other knowledge sources, learning to forge links across sources to support understanding. Results suggest using cultural themes as scaffolds did support student ability to make connections across multiple sources providing evidence that meaningful themes do help bolster linkages. However, the connections made lacked depth and clarity particularly related to explaining a “so what” factor, as well as lacking evidence of the ability to make abstract conclusions.

Authors

• Steven Z. Athanases, University of California - Davis

• JaNay Evonne Brown-Wood, California State University - Sacramento