College of Education – Dean’s Sabbatical Lecture series
May 15, 2018, 2 – 3 pm
Towson Room, Cook Library Room 507
Muddying the Waters: Studying ‘Teaching for Social Justice’ in the Midst of Uncertainty
Dr. Ashley Lucas
This presentation is focused on the first part of a multi-year research project of a cross-cultural collaborative self-study on social justice in the US and New Zealand. Dr. Ashley Lucas spent the past year collaborating with fellow social studies researcher, Dr. Andrea Mulligan of Victoria University Wellington, on social justice education in social studies. In October, Dr. Lucas spent the month at Victoria University Wellington collecting data through observation and interviews of eight New Zealand pre-service teachers in which they reflected on their five-week social studies methods course. The first result of this data is a manuscript entitled, Muddying the Waters: Studying ‘Teaching for Social Justice’ in the Midst of Uncertainty. Drawing on pedagogical moments that the pre-service teachers saw as being significant, this presentation considers the ways the course ‘muddied the waters’ of students’ unfolding conceptions and practices of social justice education. This presentation also considers how coming to know ‘teaching social justice’ through the eyes of pre-service teachers provided a reflexive surface for our self-study and has shaped its trajectory. The presentation will end with a description of the next steps of this collaborative research study.
