The landscape of multicultural education in United States public schools has experienced significant shifts in recent years. Following the 2021 passage of Florida's House Bill 7, commonly referred to as the "Anti-WOKE" law, and the subsequent 2023 removal of Advanced Placement (AP) African American History courses from Florida public schools, opportunities for students to engage with diverse historical narratives have diminished (Florida Senate, 2022). These policy changes have created gaps in students' understanding of American history and limited their exposure to the contributions and experiences of marginalized communities.
At the time, a school administrator facilitated an African American History course with a majority of high school seniors and juniors, with a few sophomores enrolled. I pondered, why can’t I facilitate a middle school African American History course? This spearheaded my goal of developing an introductory course that provided background knowledge for students that the high school course could dive deeper into analyzing not just events, but make connections to current events and develop critical thinking and debate skills by using African American History as the vehicle within conversations of social justice and race.
Against the backdrop provided above, this study documents the instructional design and implementation of an African American History (AAH) elective course developed for eighth-grade students at a research-focused public school associated with a major university in Florida. The course represents an intentional effort to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of African American experiences spanning over 400 years of documented history in the United States. As both the course designer and instructor, I adopted a practitioner- researcher stance to examine how the design decisions, implementation strategies, and curriculum organization influenced student learning outcomes and engagement. I sought to utilize nontraditional teaching methods to make content accessible to all students, implementing elements such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL), backwards design, and multi-cultural instruction; this approach was aided by the class’s categorization as an elective course.
The impetus for this course emerged from multiple professional experiences. As an elementary teacher, I developed a monthly "Storytime" series that exposed students to positive contributions of Black Americans beyond the commonly taught figures of President Barack Obama, Harriet “Minty” Tubman, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Students demonstrated enthusiasm for learning these narratives and made spontaneous connections to current events and other content areas. I used a mix of documentary clips, school and age- appropriate images, and textboxes to relay summaries for students (Bell, 2022).
The experience from incorporating “Storytime with Mr. Bell” blossomed into a semester- long Social Studies unit on Activism. Originally, the unit was slated for the fourth- and fifth-grade students in the Spring of 2020, but the COVID19 Pandemic delayed the team’s collaboration and implementation for two school years. The grade level consented the responsibility to myself for incorporating state standards and benchmarks with content from literature and resources to build a 13-lesson unit. Students learned that activism was a driving force in the make-up of the United States; social justice was a major part of the first “riot” on the “New World”- the Boston Tea Party. Activism included women’s voting rights, children’s labor laws, and many other safeguards we have today.
The opportunity to design a secondary-level AAH course emerged when the school offered an elective slot for eighth-grade students. While a high school version of the course had been taught for three years by a white administrator, no middle school iteration existed. The design challenge involved adapting complex historical content for younger adolescents while maintaining academic rigor and relevance.
Several constraints shaped the instructional design process:
Scheduling limitations: The course was offered only in spring semester as an 86-minute block period, requiring that I teach without planning time. At least five of the possible 80 periods were lost to multiple rounds of various state assessments from mathematics and reading.
Student population: Initial enrollment of 28 students included eleven students identified by teachers as having behavioral challenges. State ordinance for the class-size limit should have capped enrollment at 22 students. Three behavior-labeled students were removed by the second week of the course, bringing the class size down to 24 total students. Five of the remaining eight students known as behavior problems received referrals in the course for plagiarism (two) and repeated classroom disruptions (three); another student was dismissed from the school due to multiple behavior infractions throughout the school year.
Curriculum development timeline: Limited preparation time to develop a comprehensive semester-long course covering 400+ years of content for a course that was intended to be used as a sort of pre-requisite for the original African American History course offered to high school students. Although I fulfilled requirements within the school and university as a full-time instructor, hours and days outside of contract time were invested to build the course.
Standards alignment: Need to integrate Florida Department of Education social studies standards while addressing content gaps in traditional curricula
This study aims to understand the experiences of the instructor (myself) in a newly designed semester-long AAH elective course for eighth-grade students. The backdrop of “anti-woke” (Office of the Governor, 2022) House Bill 7 further added complexity to the challenge of designing the course in an authentic, engaging manner. This study was done to help provide scholarship to the topic of multicultural history courses. The creation of research questions began simultaneously as the design of the course exactly one year before the first lesson was taught. State standards associated with Social Studies were analyzed and reflected along with the dozens of slides developed for Storytime with Mr. Bell. Development began with the consideration of what an inclusive AAH class looked like? It was chiseled into the research questions listed below:
How does participating in a semester-long African American history course influence the instructor’s perceptions of students' comprehension of American history?
How does the instructor describe the benefits and challenges teaching a semester-long African American history course to eighth-grade students?
By documenting both the instructional design process and implementation outcomes, this research contributes practical knowledge for educators and curriculum developers seeking to create multi-cultural social studies courses in contemporary educational contexts, specifically in K-12 educational settings.
Research on teaching race and social justice in K-12 settings emphasizes the importance of positioning students from marginalized communities as subjects rather than objects in historical narratives. Brown and Brown (2011) examined how teachers should approach race and social justice in the classroom, arguing that Social Studies courses provide ideal settings for exploring issues of race and racism in American history. Their case study of two eighth-grade students involved in a collaborative social justice project with Harvard Law School demonstrated that when students could connect their lived experiences with racial profiling to academic inquiry, their engagement increased significantly. The researchers concluded that educators must create curriculum space for learners to voice their own knowledge about race and connect experience to culturally relevant teaching.
Epstein, Mayorga, and Nelson (2011) investigated the effects of culturally responsive teaching on students' historical understanding in an urban high school humanities class. The participating teacher, exposed to culturally responsive teaching practices, designed a curriculum to help students see people of color as historical agents rather than merely victims of oppression. Through analysis of beginning- and end-of-year writing assignments, researchers found that students developed more sophisticated understandings of how multiple groups—including poor whites, Latinos, Indigenous peoples, and Asian Americans—contributed to social progress through collective action rather than individual heroism alone.
Culturally responsive teaching helps students make connections between their prior knowledge and the content that is being taught. Villegas and Lucas (2007) discussed the ethical requirement of educators to help all students learn, regardless of the social, academic, economic, or behavioral barriers that children may have. Teachers that practice culturally responsive teaching promote learning and understanding for all learners are willing to advocate for students to administrators, caregivers, and other entities that interact with children.
King (2016) studied four Social Studies preservice teachers' interpretation and teaching of lessons on race in secondary classrooms, introducing the concept of "racial literacy"—the ability to discern how racism influences our understanding of the world, identify racist structures, and give voice to experiences of people of color. Three of the four participants reported limited knowledge of Black history prior to the study. King provided compiled readings including journal articles, book chapters, and primary sources tailored for each preservice teacher's curriculum plans.
Analysis of the preservice teachers' lessons revealed that participants incorporated concepts of race as social construct, systemic racism, and racial violence into their instruction. However, King noted significant limitations: lessons on Black history represented isolated moments in the 11th-grade U.S. history curriculum rather than integrated perspectives; instruction focused predominantly on oppressive forces while neglecting "Black agency" and contributions to American society; and discussions of intersectionality among race, gender, class, and geography remained minimal. King concluded that many preservice education programs lack critical race literacy elements, limiting educators' capacity to develop comprehensive lesson plans addressing Black history.
Although online course design is focused on accessibility of all instruction, resources, and assessment occurring virtually, this course- as mentioned- was created for in-person assemblies while also incorporating the district-approved learning management system (LMS), Canvas. The participants in this research project were fluent with varying components of the LMS and the expectation from school administrators was for the course to use online components. This necessitated the designer to learn more about course design to create a navigable Canvas page for students in the course.
Ritzhaupt and Covello (2014) created ADDIE Explained as an open, online resource for the educational technology community, and a part of the Instructional Design program at a major university in the southeast United States. The collection of literature covered the domains of analysis, design, development, implication, and evaluation that “make the acquisition of knowledge and skills more efficient and effective” (Ritzhaupt & Covello, 2014). Analysis, design, development, and implication require a comprehensive plan by the designer and consistent evaluation of the product throughout the development phases. By utilizing the five components in ADDIE, instructional designers can create online courses to meet varying needs of learners.
As is the case for any course, the instructor must have a high knowledge of content and the curriculum to effectively manage the classroom and maximize student’s academic growth. King (2016) discussed how the four preservice teachers were more effective teaching Black history once they believed their knowledge and understanding was sufficient. With social studies/ history classes, educators seek to bring the past to life; this is commonly done by connecting past events with current events. King’s (2016) participants became quality educators by tying in specific themes (social construct, systemic racism, and racial violence) from the past to elements of this era. Students in my eighth-grade class did the same, specifically when asking about DEI cutbacks and other events they heard other adults discuss.
The reviewed literature establishes several principles relevant to designing African American History curricula is listed below. These principles informed the design decisions for the AAH elective course examined in this study.
Student voice and experience: Curriculum should create space for students to connect personal experiences with historical content
Historical agency: Design must position African Americans as active participants shaping history rather than passive recipients of others' actions
Comprehensive coverage: Instruction should address both oppression and achievement, resistance and contribution
Adaptive course design: The course should be designed in a manner that online components “speak” with activities and lessons in-person
Educator preparation: Instructional designers need substantive content knowledge to create meaningful learning experiences
Contemporary connections: Curriculum design should facilitate connections between historical patterns and current events
This qualitative study employs a practitioner-research approach to examine the design and implementation of an African American History elective course. Cochran-Smith and Lytle (2009) discuss the importance of instructors to study the learning process and continuously improve the learning cycle for students. The dual role of instructor and researcher enabled deep insight into design decisions, implementation challenges, and student responses while maintaining focus on improving instructional practice. This methodological approach aligns with action research and design-based research traditions that emphasize iterative improvement of educational interventions in authentic contexts. Due to the dual roles filled as designer and instructor, both processes were utilized. Action research focused on the instructor’s role of constantly reflecting and evaluating the quality of teaching while design-based research was utilized in the formation and modification of the course. Many times, teachers complain about the lack of quality and disconnect between curricula and practical application; for this course the instructor-designer was forced to be held accountable to gaps in the design of content. The primary source of data provided for this inquiry was the use of two reflective journals kept by the practitioner-researcher. These served as “a place to ‘dump your brain’” (Blumenreich, 2016). These memo blogs are useful because each entry creates data that helps bring the experiences- both positive and negative- to life for later analysis.
The study took place at a research-driven public school (PreK-12) whose mission centers on designing, testing, and disseminating educational innovations through serving a diverse K-12 community. The school operates as a laboratory for a major university’s College of Education.
The AAH course enrolled 28 eighth-grade students during spring semester 2025. The class met daily for 86-minute block periods. While demographic data on students was not systematically collected due to IRB limitations, the instructor noted diversity in racial, socioeconomic, and academic backgrounds among enrolled students. A majority of the students were African-American.
The instructor-researcher is an Afro-Dominican male teacher with over 20 years of experience in education, including roles as classroom teacher, after-school program coordinator, administrator, and coach. He holds advanced degrees focused on teacher leadership in schools and completed doctoral studies in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on social justice prior to teaching this course. His professional background includes developing multicultural activities for elementary students, designing adult classes for churches, and authoring Young Adult fiction featuring marginalized protagonists. His professional aspirations were nixed due to the elimination of DEI programs and positions; the collapse in career options began with the signing of House Bill 7 in April 2022.
The course design process began approximately six months before instruction commenced. I gathered Florida Department of Education middle school Social Studies standards and organized content both vertically (chronologically by years and eras) and horizontally (across four domains: Politics/ Law/ Military; Technology/ Science/ Medicine; Industry/ Economics; and Entertainment/ Society/ Education). The domains were formulated by categorizing Black contributors and events that occurred in the present-day United States. The curriculum encompassed twelve units with six to ten lessons in each unit, covering more than 400 years of documented African American history. Table 1 provides an overview of the course structure as well as the topics for each unit.
Table 1
Course Organization and Content Structure
Module | Unit Topics | Time Period Covered |
Module 1 | Unit 1- Early Colonizers Unit 2- Growth of the Colonies Unit 3- The American Revolution | Pre-Colonial Era through Colonial Period (1300-1770s) |
Module 2 | Unit 4- Early Years of the United States Unit 5- Manifest Destiny and Westward Expansion Unit 6- Civil Wars | Revolutionary Era through Antebellum Period (1770-1860) |
Module 3 | Unit 7- Reconstruction Unit 8- Industrial Growth and Economic Development Unit 9- World Wars | Civil War through Early 20th Century (1861-1950s) |
Module 4 | Unit 10- Communism, Space, and the Civil Rights Movement Unit 11- Post Vietnam to Y2K Unit 12- The 21st Century | Civil Rights Era through 21st Century (1950s-present day) |
Lessons were designed systematically within each unit. This process started by thinking about the end result and what events and people were connected in a chronological development of the course. By using backward design, I formulated unit assessments (summatives, which count for 75% of the course grade), then paced lessons that scaffolded information and student activities. A formative assessment (20% of course grade) was included in a majority of the lessons. Each lesson and unit was built and designed in a systematic, chronological order. Figure 1 provides a visual representation of the timetable and process of the development of the course.
Figure 1
Visual representation of the timeline to develop the course
Using the ADDIE approach (Ritzhaupt & Covello, 2014), I developed each unit, pulling from primary sources available online and engaging in feedback from a network of evaluators. The first unit was evaluated by two instructional designers, a secondary student that would later be enrolled in the course, another secondary student, a secondary educator, and a non-educator with knowledge of African American history. The feedback helped the instructor remove the blinders of being so close to the work; comments from fresh eyes helped me become a stronger instructional designer for future units. Some constructive feedback from evaluators are listed below:
“This works, but consider adjusting learning objectives to what the underlying abilities learners need to be able to do to "plot events in chronological order on a timeline". You can use Bloom's Taxonomy to find the action verbs that make the most sense for each lesson.” (Instructional Designer)
“I really appreciate the timeline on the bottom and all the visuals! very student friendly.” (Secondary student)
“After each lesson title slide, I would suggest an "Agenda" slide to break it down for learners before you get into the content. This would list out each section of the lesson to establish expectations and help learners begin to form a mental model/map of how the different sections make up this broader lesson.” (Instructional Designer)
“[I] love the use of maps as visuals in this lesson.” (Instructional Designer)
“"Enslaved Africans Fought". fought who, what, when, where. What is the context of the fighting.” (AAH contributor)
Then, I created curriculum materials as demonstrated from the subsections below. Simultaneously, I enrolled in an instructional design program to enhance my ability to craft effective lessons for students with varying educational needs. Design decisions emphasized active learning strategies, primary source analysis, multimedia resources, and formative assessments aligned with learning objectives. Elements of course design included lectures, literature, research activities, short response activities, and videos.
Initially, I planned for lectures during the first half of most periods. The lectures included diagrams and images related to the historical period and event covered. Google Slides was used to provide visual aids accessible from multiple locations and the primary tool used during these lectures. Lectures included literature, videos, and scaffolded discussions. Primary sources drove the development of the content, but secondary sources that were supplemented with research-based evidence were included. An example of a non-traditional lecture included a comparison of civil rights leaders: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm “X” Little, and Dr. Huey P. Newton. Students learned about each of the three men’s childhood and home life, education, what prominent activists influenced each of their philosophies, and how they are remembered after their assassinations.
Primary sources were researched, printed, and organized within lessons. Students were tasked to complete readings in a variety of manners- individually, jigsaw, and partner. The instructor encouraged students to be “active readers” by marking on the printouts; they were permitted to highlight, underline, and write their own questions or comments in the margins of text and images. I included a group reading activity called Placemat Reading- students rotate reading or studying four different artifacts in a timed manner, then reflecting individually before a group discussion. This reading activity was introduced and modeled for myself and colleagues during a preplanning meeting and drew a positive response from teachers. I used varying forms of this literature activity within multiple lessons to help maximize student engagement and discussions.
Multiple research activities were used to help mitigate student fatigue from the number of lectures. For example, in Unit 4, an early “lesson” broke students into pairs where they selected a legal trial or government decision based on race. Some of the events students were tasked to research included the Missouri Compromise (1820), Monroe Doctrine (1823), and Kansas- Nebraska Act (1854). Students also had to complete a handful of traditional classroom writing tasks that focused on basic recall, level one skills according to Webb’s Depth of Knowledge chart.
In an effort to develop critical thinking skills, students participated in class discussions, engaged with note-taking skills during lectures, and read from a variety of articles, and were given prompts to respond to. Some questions required students to look back in the text or reflect on the lesson to provide evidence to justify their feelings or response to the questions. In totality, the prompts did not have a “correct” response, but were implemented to push students to think about the application and the effects of the people and/or events discussed.
I also incorporated videos and short clips to supplement lectures. For example, when students learned about voting rights in Unit 10, I included two read-alouds titled Granddaddy’s Gift (Mitchell, 1997) and Granddaddy’s Turn: A Journey to the Ballot Box (Bandy & Stein, 2015). Picture books provided visual aids to help teenage students at varying learning levels connect to content. Documentaries and more informal videos were shown to students through YouTube and embedded videos from websites such as history.com.
Due to delays in Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, data collection focused on instructor artifacts and holistic review of student work rather than individual student interviews or identifiable student journal entries. Although student voice and feedback was not attainable as a primary source of data, their experience was referred to frequently within the instructor’s reflection journals. Both instructor journals include student voices in varying manners.
Although IRB approval was not attained and student data was not able to be included, this study has gone through credible review and evaluation from an administrative department within the university school’s research department. Throughout the school year, the researcher gained approval at various checkpoints of the study from administrators to continue with this study. Over the summer, school administrators read, discussed, and evaluated the quality of the study by vetting the research questions, literature, purpose, data collection, findings, and implications of this study. This inquiry was rated as an Effective score based on evaluators.
The following data sources were initially selected to help in the analysis (starred sources were not included due to pending IRB approval at the time of the study):
The Instructor Daily Journal provided initial responses with interactions between students and the instructor, students and the curriculum, and students with the assignments. I maintained a handwritten daily journal with entries completed at the beginning of each lesson (during student bell work) and at the conclusion (during student reflection time). This journal captured immediate reactions, concerns, excitement, and observations about student engagement and lesson effectiveness. Entries were completed twice during the period for each day I was present. This led to a total of 75 journal entries from the instructor.
The Instructor Reflective Journal dives deeper into the evaluation of student work, student engagement with the curriculum, and students’ interaction with myself. A typed reflective journal provided space for deeper metacognition about the course. Entries were made periodically when time permitted more intentional reflection on curriculum shifts, design decisions, and significant classroom events. A total of 33 reflective entries were documented, dating back to the initial design of the course.
Formative and summative assessments provided evidence of student learning and engagement. Formative assessments (20% of course grade) included varied activities such as designing a city using coordinate geometry, researching educational programs, and creating song lyrics. Summative assessments (75% of course grade) included presentations, traditional tests, and choice-based projects completed at the end of each unit.
Students maintained composition books with daily bell work and reflection entries. They were expected to write at least two paragraphs (half-page) for both the bell work at the beginning of the period and Reflection at the end of the lesson or period, responding to guiding questions or free-writing. Journal completion was assessed through Habits of Work grades (5% of course grade) based on completion rather than content quality.
Students completed an anonymous survey at semester's end addressing course experiences, learning outcomes, and suggestions for improvement. Due to low response rates, survey data provided supplementary rather than primary evidence. Based on the experience with the students, I believe that students chose not to participate since there was no requirement tying the survey completion as a grade.
Analysis followed a repetitive process appropriate for qualitative practitioner research. Plano-Clark and Creswell (2015) recommend a process of asking the question, “what does the data tell you?” This was the question used when coding began. The instructor's daily journal was scanned to PDF and the reflective journal was downloaded as PDF to facilitate digital annotation and coding. The use of PDFs allowed me to quickly find highlights when thematic coding began, and coordinate colors.
I read through both instructor journals two times, highlighting text relevant to the research questions and meaningful for understanding my experience as an instructor. Different highlight colors were assigned to emerging categories including: lack of time, class management/student work, current event discussions, student knowledge and experience, inquiry, instructional design considerations, curriculum revisions, and teacher feelings. Due to the inability to acquire IRB consent, student work was analyzed as a secondary source through commentary analyzed in the instructor’s journals. Table 2 demonstrates the categorization used for codes after two rounds of analysis.
Table 2
Highlight colors used to code data.
Lack of time | Class management/ student work | Current event discussions | Student knowledge and experience |
Inquiry | ID considerations | Curriculum revisions | Teacher feelings |
Following Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña (2014), I- the researcher- applied descriptive coding by assigning phrases and keywords to summarize text segments. This process involved careful attention to language patterns and recurring themes across journal entries. From grouping the initial codes and analyzing what the data said, I found the repetition of initial coding that was consistent and common across data. This helped me decipher what the data was saying. As the analysis continued, descriptors were assigned to categorized data, which led to the development of subthemes.
After sleeping and reflecting on initial descriptive codes, I reviewed codes with fresh perspective to identify subthemes. Subthemes were then organized into broader themes directly addressing each research question. Table 3 displays the analytical framework connecting research questions, themes, and subthemes.
Table 3
Analytical Framework: Research Questions, Themes, and Subthemes
Research Questions | Themes | Subthemes |
RQ1: How does participating in a semester-long African American history course influence the instructor’s perceptions of students' comprehension of American history? | Students realized importance of AAH course and the stories/ events connected to US history | Students realized the depth of AAH and its connection to US history events, people |
Students realized learning about AAH is important | ||
Students learned that AAH connects to current events in government, society | Students learned about AAH and how it connects to current events | |
RQ2: How does the instructor describe the benefits and challenges teaching a semester-long African American history course to eighth-grade students? | Course needed more revision and adjustments to make rubric and assignments clear for students | Teacher needs to make revisions from first iteration of course |
Directions, rubric not concise for students | ||
Time was a constraint for student learning and teaching practices | There wasn't enough time to go through lessons, stories, and complete work | |
Students struggled to grasp concepts and stay engaged with assignments | ||
Lack of time for teacher to prepare and navigate lessons | ||
Teacher and students experienced challenges but were enthusiastic about course | Teacher feelings were up and down throughout the semester | |
Students engaged with content |
Several strategies enhanced the trustworthiness of findings. Triangulation occurred through multiple data sources including daily journals, reflective journals, and student artifacts. The instructor’s daily reflective journal, included commentary about student work regarding a variety of assignments. The bulleted list provides examples of various assignments the designer/ instructor created and evaluated students on:
After reading about Black contributors to the British colonies (Unit 2, Lesson 4), students were told to pick one person to bring to an imaginary fancy dinner and write five questions they would want to ask the Black contributor/ innovator.
Students spent two lessons comparing and contrasting Black soldiers that were Loyalists or Patriots for what the new country of the United States looked like for African Americans (Unit 3, Lesson 5). The class broke up into three groups with prep time for a debate on the following question: Were African Americans more justified in supporting the Patriots or the Loyalists during the Revolutionary War?
Students were assigned to research a Black fort or Seminole village in Florida and answer the four w’s: Who? What? Where? When? Why? (Unit 5, Lesson 7).
Students research two programs (one vocational, one liberal) that interests them at the collegiate level. Write a persuasive letter to your parents or guardians about why they should support you to attend that school. This assignment followed a lesson where students learned about Black educators Dr. WEB DuBois and Booker T. Washington and their disagreement on vocational and liberal education (Unit 7, Lesson 3).
Students read two poems about Black soldiers (Unit 9, Lesson 1) from Langston Hughes, and write their own poem about a Black soldier from one of the following perspectives: a Black soldier, a family member of a black soldier, or a white soldier watching Black troops.
After learning about Black progress across the United States during the Civil Rights Movement (Unit 10, Lesson 7), students worked with their table to develop the front page of a newspaper with an image, title, and brief summary of the accomplishments of Black Americans in your assigned region (North, South, East, West, Midwest).
Students were tasked to find three social media posts related to activism. They had to then write two sentences about each image about your stance and how you feel and answer the following question with at least five sentences: Is free speech truly free for Black Americans? (Unit 12, Lesson 4)
Triangulation is the use of multiple data points to verify accuracy (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Prolonged engagement throughout the full semester allowed the researcher to observe patterns and changes over time. Rich description of the context, design process, and classroom experiences enables readers to assess transferability. Reflexivity is inherent in the practitioner- researcher approach, with explicit attention to positionality and the researcher's dual role.
Limitations of the study include the single-case focus on one instructor's experience, the constraint of missing IRB approval that prevented analysis of individual student voices, and the lack of comparison data from students not enrolled in the course. These limitations are addressed further in the discussion section. Students as participants would have helped strengthen the data used in the study, however, there were only 23 students that completed the semester in this AAH course. Yet, that would have added 22 more voices to provide more data to analyze this research.
Despite the lack of IRB approval to include student data, their voice and experiences are analyzed and incorporated by the instructor. As a researcher, I was able to consider the perception of students through the lens of the instructor from the analysis completed with the instructor’s reflective journals as the data source.
As the course designer, instructor, and researcher, I brought multiple identities to this work. As an Afro-Dominican male educator with over 20 years of experience, I have witnessed and personally experienced the marginalization of minorities in educational settings- this includes Black and Brown students, parents, and coworkers. My professional background includes developing multicultural curricula, conducting research on Black male elementary teachers, and authoring award-winning Young Adult literature featuring marginalized protagonists.
My doctoral training in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on social justice shaped my commitment to creating educational spaces where students encounter comprehensive historical narratives. My experiences witnessing police brutality against Black Americans, including George Floyd's murder, and learning about historical events like the Wilmington Insurrection (1898) and the Rosewood Massacre (1923) that were omitted from my own education motivated this curriculum development work.
Studying my work and myself as a primary participant allowed me to navigate the concern of credible responses that interviewers grapple with from participants when faced with challenging questions. I believe from the openness in my findings of shortfalls as an AAH instructor and designer, the reader will recognize that I- the researcher- did as much to maintain credibility of the study. Foundationally, the ability to openly and honestly reflect on one’s strengths and weaknesses is a necessity for educators to grow; this is an attribute I have honed after 12 years as a high school coach. The same desire I had to help young men improve as basketball players by communicating their strengths and weaknesses was required for myself to grow as a coach. I believe this is evident in this literature.
I acknowledge that my passion for this content and commitment to social justice influenced design decisions and may have shaped my interpretation of student responses. The practitioner-researcher role provided valuable insider knowledge while potentially limiting critical distance. As the latter process of data analysis occurred after the school year, it provided time and space for me to separate the anxious feelings that overwhelm a teacher from the analytical and tactical mental framing required to adequately analyze the inquiry. The findings informed the analytical process and interpretation of findings.
Analysis of instructor journals and student artifacts revealed five primary themes addressing the research questions. Two themes respond to RQ1 regarding students' comprehension of American history, while three themes address RQ2 concerning benefits and challenges experienced during teaching and learning.
Students demonstrated recognition that African American history encompasses far more content than they had previously encountered in their education. This realization emerged early in the semester and continued throughout the course.
Students' lack of familiarity with basic concepts became apparent in early units. After Unit 1, Lesson 3 on the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the instructor noted in his journal that "a lot of students didn't know what the Transatlantic Slave Trade was.” Following Unit 1, Lesson 5, the instructor noted that “a student commented, "I realized how much more there is to learn about what happened before slavery,”” indicating awareness of African history and civilizations predating enslavement. As the course progressed, students encountered events and places absent from their prior education. During a lesson on sundown towns (Unit 8, Lesson 3), students watched a video documenting such towns in Florida. One student asked if I had been to any, and I confirmed visiting Cedar Key. Students expressed surprise that segregated communities with exclusionary histories continued to exist in their state. Students connected historical and contemporary instances of violence against Black military service members. After learning about the 1946 beating of World War II veteran Sgt. Isaac Woodard by police that left him permanently blind, students recalled the 2020 incident involving Lt. Caron Nazario, a Black Army officer pepper-sprayed and handcuffed by Virginia police during a traffic stop. Students noted the hypocrisy of people of color risking their lives for the country only to experience racist violence upon returning home, recognizing this pattern spanning nearly 80 years. This was the same sentiment in Black communities during the World War I and II eras toward Black Veterans that willingly served.
Students' belief in the course's importance became evident when they learned the AAH elective would be offered to younger middle school students. The instructor recorded that students said, "kids should be exposed to [AAH] at an earlier age [than eighth grade]" (Unit 7, Lesson 2); this demonstrates their recognition that this content should be foundational rather than optional. Despite behavioral challenges documented throughout the semester, the students maintained engagement with course material. After showing a seven-minute interview with Black and white students from Little Rock Central High School during the 1957-1958 integration crisis (Unit 10, Lesson 3), students participated in animated group discussion. Similarly, students provided "thoughtful commentary in a lively round-table conversation on the effects of Jim Crow" (Unit 7, Lesson 1).
Students demonstrated capacity to draw connections between historical patterns of racial oppression and contemporary events, recognizing continuities across time periods and applying historical knowledge to make sense of current issues.
The day after Kendrick Lamar's halftime show at Super Bowl LIX (which followed President Trump's second inauguration), students initiated discussion of the performance. The instructor noted, "We had a nice talk about the halftime show! There was lots of symbolism and examples of Black music used to express feelings after the election of Trump" (Unit 4, Lesson 1). Students identified the appearance of Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam and decoded symbolic elements of the performance as commentary on racial politics. Students demonstrated awareness of and concern about current political actions affecting diversity education. One student initiated class discussion by stating she "heard something about Trump cancelling DEI" (Unit 4, Lesson 6). Students expressed surprise to learn that the federal government under the Trump Administration was attempting to eliminate recognition of Black History Month and Juneteenth (Unit 6, Lesson 6). In the final unit, students read a Gainesville Sun article about Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth canceling Black History Month events at the Department of Defense (Unit 12, Lesson 5), connecting their course content to ongoing political developments. They voiced their displeasure and concern that the government was intentionally seeking to eliminate educating citizens about the contributions of Black Americans.
The instructor consistently identified areas requiring curriculum revision throughout the semester, recognizing gaps between design intentions and implementation realities.
Recognition of needed changes appeared early and continued through the course. After the first lesson, the instructor noted, "I need to make sure the classes aren't just lectures" (Unit 1, Lesson 1). The design of the lesson was for approximately 40 minutes of teacher-led instruction in the format of a lecture and requiring students to take notes. Best-practice teaching requires that instructors go beyond a roped process of lecturing and engaging more student-led participation in the period. By Unit 2, he observed, "I see lots of needed tweaks that are needed while I teach" (Unit 2, Lesson 5). At the semester's midpoint near spring break, he wrote, "I need to make some revisions as we go into the second half of the course. Knowing how to use Canvas/technology would help. I need to change up the class" (Unit 6, Lesson 7). The instructor recognized that covering 400+ years of history in one semester created pacing challenges. Before the semester began, he noted, "I'm gonna run into a time issue, though. I paced out the lessons I have so far and I won't have any days to teach Unit 12. I have more than 80 lessons" (10/19/24). During instruction, he made decisions to consolidate content: "I may delete this [Unit 1, Lesson 7] and alter the unit assessment" (Unit 1, Lesson 7). Later, he "merged these two lessons [Black Homes, Burned Dreams and The Great Migration] due to pacing concerns" (Unit 9, Lessons 3 and 4).
Students struggled to understand assignment expectations, prompting recognition that directions required revision. After the first unit (Week 3), the instructor wrote, "I need to revise this lesson's bell work" (Unit 1, Lesson 8). He later noted, "Let's see if they will start following directions... with their journal, notebook, and class" (Unit 2, Lesson 3). By Unit 10, he questioned whether students could adequately respond to prompts: "I'm not sure the kids can answer any/many of the bell work questions" (Unit 10, Lesson 7). The instructor recognized that students required more opportunities to process information during lessons rather than only at the end. He noted, "We didn't even have time to do the activity today" (Unit 1, Lesson 1) and later observed that "kids need more time to work, more than 15-20 minutes" (Unit 2, Lesson 5). More intentionality and clarity was needed for students to complete work independently, without frequent explanation provided by the teacher.
Time limitations affected multiple aspects of the course, from preparation and design to instructional pacing and student learning.
Throughout the semester while teaching mathematics, AAH, and taking university-level professional development courses, he repeatedly noted insufficient preparation time: "I need to spend more time—lol, more time—preparing" (Unit 3, Lesson 1); "I really wish I had more time to develop this class" (Unit 7, Lesson 4); "I wish I had more planning time" (Unit 10, Lesson 2). The instructor invested substantial time developing the course outside contracted hours. During winter break, he wrote, "I spent around three hours at school each day, for three of the past four days; it's a total of about eight or nine hours. We're on vacation!" (12/24/24). He continued course development even during a family vacation (12/31/24). Although the instructor-designer displayed a fervent interest in developing a high-quality curriculum, there was limited time to sufficiently follow best design practices.
Despite 86-minute block periods, the instructor frequently noted inadequate time to complete planned activities. He observed, "We didn't even have time to do the activity today" (Unit 1, Lesson 1) and "we have a lot to cover: three lessons in two days" (Unit 3, Lesson 3). The compressed pacing limited opportunities for deep engagement with material.
Students demonstrated a need for more processing time. The instructor noted that "kids tried to provide one-word answers or the first thought" (Unit 2, Lesson 2), suggesting insufficient time for deeper reflection. He observed that students "are more attentive/engaged when they are involved and are doing" (Unit 2, Lesson 6), yet time constraints limited interactive activities. Time pressure exacerbated classroom management issues. The instructor noted that "participation and sharing out was not what I hoped" (Unit 1, Lesson 2) early in the semester, and later observed, "As usual, one kid was way off task, and it ruined the discussion" (Unit 7, Lesson 1). The rapid pace made it difficult to address behavioral issues while maintaining instructional momentum. The depth of students labeled as behavior problems as well as the fast-pace of the course made it challenging for students to stay engaged. There was a need for greater variety of tasks and inclusion of various modalities for students to demonstrate mastery of the standard assigned with each lesson.
Despite significant obstacles, both the instructor and students demonstrated sustained commitment to and enthusiasm for the course content.
The instructor's journals revealed complex emotions throughout the semester. He simultaneously felt "frustrated and glad" (Unit 2, Lesson 5) as he navigated challenges. Before the semester began, he expressed exhaustion: "I'm a bit exhausted. Literally, whenever I'm not working on stuff for the math classes, I am working on content and materials for the AAH class. I even work on the class at home—quite a bit" (12/24/24). He also experienced concerns about parental pushback, noting, "I also am dealing with parents—not related to the AAH class, but they probably know I'm going to be teaching the class based on my signature line... At this point, the AAH class is the only reason I want to keep teaching" (12/17/24). Despite challenges, the instructor found joy in teaching the course. He wrote, "This was a fun lesson [Black Entertainment Television: More than B.E.T. Industry]" (Unit 11, Lesson 4) and noted personal significance: "This lesson is extra important to me as an educator and an educated Black man" (Unit 7, Lesson 3) regarding the unit on Black education.
Students demonstrated genuine engagement with course material despite behavioral challenges. The instructor observed, "Today's lesson was so jaw-dropping and intense, the students were focused. I shared two primary source articles about the Stono Rebellion" (01/28/25). During a debate activity on race and bias in healthcare, "the students were very animated and engaged" (Unit 12, Lesson 3). Student enthusiasm particularly emerged during creative assignments. For the lesson titled Faith-based Freedom, students wrote verses for songs about faith during slavery or abolition. The instructor noted in his daily journal that "students really got into the activity of writing lyrics for a song" (Unit 4, Lesson 5). His reflective journal provided additional detail: "The students were really engaged and excited about today's assignment—they were tasked to write lyrics for one verse (up to one minute) of a song! Many were struggling with the assignment, but they were engaged, turning and sharing their ideas with neighbors and friends" (02/18/25). The documentary from the instructor’s observation of students shows that they valued the content and information that was shared.
The findings from this study align with and extend existing research on culturally responsive teaching in social studies education while providing practical insights for instructional designers developing multicultural curricula.
Consistent with Brown and Brown's (2011) findings, students in this study demonstrated increased engagement when curriculum created space for connecting their lived experiences with historical content. Students initiated discussions about current events, from Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl performance to federal policies eliminating DEI programs, demonstrating the relevance they found in course material. Similar to the two eighth-grade students in Brown and Brown's study who became energized when their voices were included in Harvard Law School research on racial profiling, students in this AAH course showed enthusiasm when they could bring their own knowledge and experiences into classroom discussions.
As mentioned, another data point connected students to historical events was the lesson focused on Black soldiers during and after World Wars I and II after learning about the beating that former Sgt. Issac Woodward received in the South when returning home while dressed in his uniform (1946), students were challenged to think if Black soldiers still face harassment today. When shown screenshots of Army officer Caron Nazario (2020) being stopped and pepper-sprayed, the class erupted. Approximately three-quarters of the students began speaking at once- many saying that they recalled seeing and hearing about this story on the news. Students, like those in Brown and Browns’ (2011) study, connected hostility in the past to the present.
Eighth-grade students in my AAH course repeatedly displayed interest to learn more about the lives of Black Americans. Similar to Brown and Brown’s (2011) study, as the students began to read literature and watch documentary segments, they asked more questions and displayed a desire to gain their own knowledge outside our classroom. Their knowledge and growth connected with Epstein et al.’s (2011) findings by connecting past societal actions to current events. The teenagers connected the dots of a historical thread to racist practices over centuries in American laws, education, and social norms. Once the young teenagers were settled with literature, they were engaged in learning, decoding, and extracting information from various forms of artifacts.
The curriculum design intentionally positioned African Americans as active agents in history, aligning with Epstein et al.'s (2011) finding that students benefit from seeing people of color as historical actors rather than passive victims. Students learned about resistance movements, entrepreneurship, educational advancement, and cultural contributions alongside narratives of oppression. This comprehensive approach appeared to help students recognize patterns of collective action across time periods, as mentioned in evidence of their ability to connect violence and mistreatment against Black veterans since the Revolutionary War (the likes of James Armistead Lafayette, Salem Poor, through the 21st century).
Students also built a greater level of empathy when learning about the Civil Rights Movement regarding voting rights and school desegregation. While learning about desegregation, students watched a segment from Oprah Winfrey’s 1996 television talk show episode when she hosted Black and white students present at Little Rock Central High School in 1957-1958. When AAH students were given a sample of Alabama’s literacy test issued to Black applicants in 1964, many left a majority of the 67-question assessment blank. They were shocked to learn the limited time given to Black Americans who dare attempt to pass the test.
King's (2016) emphasis on racial literacy for educators proved relevant to this study. My background in multicultural education, social justice scholarship, and African American history enabled me to design a curriculum that addressed systemic racism, racial violence, and social constructs of race while also highlighting Black achievement and agency. However, even with substantial content knowledge, I still identified significant gaps in my pedagogical preparation for teaching this specific content to this age group, reinforcing King's observation that content knowledge alone is insufficient without appropriate instructional strategies.
One example of the need for instruction revision was evident when a comparison of units from the initial school year was used with the current school year. After modifying the unit with lessons on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the slow transition from servitude to slavery, I added a two-day activity where students engaged in a mock trial for John Punch. Punch was a Black indentured servant who was punished with “servitude for life” after attempting to run away with two other white indentured servants (both were given extra years of servitude as a consequence). Before the debate, current AAH students learned about the process of a trial, members in a courtroom, and were reminded to use the persuasive techniques taught in prior writing classes in preparation for state writing assessments. I also adjusted summative (unit) assessments to be consistent throughout the course; students were tasked to collaboratively design a magazine edition based on key people or events discussed during the unit.
Students' limited prior knowledge of foundational concepts like the Transatlantic Slave Trade, sundown towns, and African civilizations pre-slavery corroborates research findings that African American history remains marginalized in traditional curricula. This gap justified the course's existence while simultaneously creating instructional challenges, as the instructor needed to establish foundational knowledge while also covering more complex topics. Learning about an event or person one day, then being introduced to more, new information the next, proved to be a major cognitive load for students. This displayed the initial desire for a prerequisite course or opportunities for students to learn larger chunks of AAH.
This study offers multiple practical implications for instructional designers and educators developing culturally responsive social studies curricula. The implications cover three categories of Curricular Development, Pedagogical Approaches, and Professional Development. In the following subsections, I will expound more on those domains.
The AAH curriculum should be designed with explicit connections to students' prior social studies coursework. For middle school students, this means building on sixth-grade U.S. History and seventh-grade Civics content while preparing students for high school courses in U.S. History and Government. Rather than treating AAH as an isolated elective, designers should identify specific content gaps in traditional curricula that the AAH course fills. King (2016) talks about the importance for connections between curriculum and learners. Building a linear bond helps students stay engaged and tap into their prior knowledge from previous Social Studies courses. King (2016) also mentions the need for such a curriculum to cover more than people and events; there should be a bridge built for students to understand how race was built into societal beliefs. This ties into the instructor’s consideration of a potential course rebuild where AAH is done in a topical/thematic organization instead of chronologically. Covering 400+ years of history in one semester created significant pacing challenges. Future iterations should consider either:
Extending the course to a full academic year to allow deeper exploration of topics and events
Creating a two-course sequence (e.g., AAH I: Early Explorers to the Civil War; AAH II: Reconstruction to Present)
Deliberately focusing the course on specific time periods or themes rather than attempting comprehensive chronological coverage
The study demonstrated that eighth-graders could engage with complex content about systemic racism, violence, resistance, agency, and contribution. Developmentally appropriate versions of AAH content can and should be instituted at earlier grade levels. Elementary versions might focus on individual achievements and contributions, while secondary courses engage more deeply with systematic topics of structural oppression and collective agency. This type of culturally responsive course design is mimicked by Epstein et al. (2011); the teacher’s background and dedication to design the course to meet the social, academic, and emotional backgrounds of students is important. As mentioned, creating further background knowledge in African American history can be challenging due to the implications of House Bill 7. However, student knowledge can still be provided by connecting African American history to various subject areas.
The early recognition in the semester that classes "can't just be lectures" reflects a common instructional design challenge with content-heavy courses. Epstein et al. (2011) acknowledged challenges with teaching history; students struggle to build a connection to events that happened in a time period that they cannot comprehend or visualize. To make the course engaging, the designer must move beyond traditional history lessons to use creative activities that stimulate different abilities within students and challenge them to develop. Students needed more opportunities to process information during lessons rather than only through end-of-class reflections. Effective AAH curricula should incorporate:
Primary source analysis activities
Debates and structured discussions
Creative projects (e.g., songwriting, design tasks)
Research opportunities
Connections to current events
Discussion forums for processing ideas
Scaffolded project timelines with checkpoints
Students struggled to understand expectations for assignments and journal entries. Epstein et al. (2011) encourages instructors to be clear with rubrics and tasks. This includes providing models or examples for each assignment type, step-by-step instructions with visual supports, and offering structured parameters for submitted assignments. To address diverse learner needs, future iterations should systematically incorporate UDL design principals such as multiple means of representation (text, video, audio, graphics) and multiple means of action and expression (written, oral, visual, creative options for demonstrating learning).
The isolation experienced by the instructor suggests that collaborative design processes could improve outcomes. It was also important for the instructor to continue their own professional growth to become more fluent and adapt with the school’s LMS. This will allow more student engagement independently that can help cut behavior challenges. Connecting with AAH instructors at other schools or districts for idea-sharing helps lower the curricular and design load carried by the instructor. King (2016) found that when teachers focus on AAH embedded within general history lessons, they tell a more critical story about race; meaning that Black individuals are shifted from objects to the primary, studied subjects in a curriculum. As noted from the experience with four preservice teachers, King would recommend that I engage with other local programs such as the African American History Task Force Virtual Summer Institute (AAHTF). I should also gain more experience in instructional design focused on curriculum development and consider including field trips for future iterations of the course.
This study has several limitations that should be considered when interpreting findings and transferring insights to other contexts. Limitations include an individual voice as the sole data provider, secondary-sourced voice of students, lack of comparable data, resource constraints, and potential positionality conflicts. Each of the limitations are expanded in subsections below.
As a study of one instructor's experience with one course iteration, findings reflect the specific context, student population, and instructor characteristics of this particular implementation. My background in multicultural education and social justice may not be representative of typical educators assigned to teach AAH courses. Other instructors may have more experience teaching AAH or other multicultural history courses or may have studied and majored in AAH and have more in-depth knowledge and ideas to develop and implement a course.
IRB approval delays prevented systematic collection of individual student journal entries, interviews, or focus group data. While the instructor's observations provided insight into student experiences, direct student perspectives would have enriched understanding of learning outcomes and course impact. The voice of students is filtered through the lens of a veteran educator.
Without a control or comparison group, the study cannot definitively attribute changes in students' historical understanding solely to course participation. Students may have gained some knowledge and perspective through other sources or developmental maturation.
The semester-long timeframe does not capture whether students retained knowledge or perspectives over time, or whether course participation influenced their subsequent academic choices or civic engagement.
Time limitations affected both course development and the research process. The instructor lacked dedicated planning time, and the researcher had limited capacity for comprehensive literature review or extensive data analysis while managing full-time teaching responsibilities and university coursework.
The researcher's deep commitment to social justice and multicultural education, while enabling passionate instruction, may have influenced interpretation of student responses and classroom dynamics. The dual role provided insider knowledge but potentially limited critical distance.
Despite these limitations, the study provides valuable documentation of the instructional design process for a culturally responsive social studies course and offers practical insights for practitioners developing similar curricula.
One idea for future research is to compare the experiences from the first iteration of this course to next year’s section. After delivering the elective course to eighth-grade students, the instructor was told that the class will be pushed down to fit the schedule with sixth- and/or seventh-grade students. This adjustment can serve as a comparison between the two school years when the class was offered, as well as provide scholarship for future iterations of the class.
Additional ideas include composing an AAH Inventory. My current vision would be a beginning and end of semester assessment to measure students’ academic and content knowledge growth from taking an AAH elective class. Student activities could include multiple choice questions about major events and people during the course of AAH in the United States’ region. Optional tools to conduct this analysis are providing students two blank timelines- on one side they fill in as many United States’ history events in the correct location and fill in as many AAH events on the back. There are plenty of other methods to assess and study the knowledge increase of the course that would be beneficial for future iterations.
Another idea for future research is completing a case study as mentioned in the Limitations section. Studying and collaborating about the experiences of other AAH instructors can provide scholarship for future AAH educators and to inspire elementary educators to integrate introductory lessons of AAH or to embed AAH persons and/or events in other subjects they teach, such as Language Arts, Reading, Mathematics, and Science. This idea is important because the participant noted his eighth-graders’ response when they told the AAH elective would be moved to lower middle school grades: “[the students] said kids should be exposed to [AAH] at an earlier age [than 8th grade]” (Unit 7, Lesson 2).
The third idea for future research is to complete a meta-analysis of secondary schools that have created multicultural programs. While European History is still credited as an AP course, there are other multicultural courses offered in different states: Latinx History, Asian American History, and Women’s History like California (which mandated an ethnic studies course for high school graduation), Florida, Illinois, New York, Texas, and Virginia. While participating at the 2024 National Multicultural Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) convention, I was inspired to begin creating such a program at my school. As has been the case for many school districts, funding and other higher priorities have moved this vision from possibility to “one day.”
This study documented the design, implementation, and initial outcomes of an AAH elective course developed for eighth-grade students in a context where multicultural curricula face political challenges and societal pushback. Through practitioner-researcher inquiry utilizing instructor reflective journals and student artifacts, the study revealed that students developed deeper comprehension of American history, made meaningful connections to contemporary events, and demonstrated enthusiasm for course content despite significant implementation challenges.
Key findings demonstrate that students realized the breadth and importance of African American historical narratives absent from their prior education and successfully connected historical patterns of racial oppression to current events. Implementation challenges centered on time constraints affecting both curriculum development and instructional pacing, need for clearer assignment instructions and rubrics, and the complexity of covering 400+ years of content in one semester. Despite these obstacles, both the students and instructor maintained engagement with course material, suggesting the value and viability of such curricula when thoughtfully designed.
The study offers practical implications for instructional designers and educators developing culturally responsive Social Studies courses. Recommendations include careful attention to pacing and scope, integration of active learning strategies and formative assessments, application of Universal Design for Learning principles, development of cumulative projects that build across units, and provision of adequate time and support for curriculum development. The findings also underscore the importance of instructor content knowledge and racial literacy, collaborative design processes, and administrative commitment to multicultural education.
This research contributes to the field of applied instructional design by providing empirical documentation of the messy, complex, iterative process of developing and implementing culturally responsive curriculum in an authentic K-12 context. The practitioner-researcher approach illuminates the tensions between design ideals and implementation realities, the emotional labor of teaching (especially marginalized histories), and the adaptive problem-solving required when working within institutional constraints.
As educational institutions across the United States grapple with competing pressures to both include and exclude diverse historical narratives, this study offers evidence that middle school students can engage meaningfully with African American History content and benefit from a comprehensive understanding of American history that positions all people as subjects rather than objects. The enthusiasm demonstrated by students—who advocated that younger children should access this content—suggests that AAH curricula address an educational need that students themselves recognize.
Moving forward, schools and districts should consider AAH not as a controversial political statement but as essential to providing students with accurate, complete understanding of American history. This may require developing AAH as part of comprehensive multicultural programs including Latinx History, Asian American History, Indigenous Peoples History, and Women's History, creating pathways where students encounter multiple perspectives on the American experience.
I plan to continue refining and teaching this curriculum to younger middle school students, conducting ongoing action research to document iterative improvements. Future iterations will implement the design recommendations identified through this study, including adjustments to pacing, clearer assignment structures, increased active learning opportunities, and better integration of the school’s LMS. This continued inquiry will contribute additional evidence about effective approaches for culturally responsive curriculum design in secondary social studies education.
Ultimately, this study demonstrates that despite political opposition, resource constraints, and implementation challenges, educators committed to social justice can design and facilitate meaningful learning experiences that expand students' historical understanding and critical consciousness. The work requires substantial time, deep content knowledge, pedagogical skill, emotional resilience, and institutional support—but the student engagement and learning documented in this study suggest that such efforts are worthwhile and necessary for preparing informed, critically conscious citizens.
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