Document Type
Research Project
Majors
U.S. History
Social Studies
Secondary Education
Completion Date
5-9-2013
Abstract
This action research project analyzed the current perceptions of diversity within the high school history curriculum at a small, predominantly white school district in northwest Indiana. Sixty-seven students participated on two separate days for this project. On the first day, a survey was distributed in which students provided anonymous, biographical information about themselves. Using a Likert scale, students also indicated their responses to five questions pertaining to their value on diversity and their thoughts on its inclusion in the current curriculum. On the following day, students were asked to jot down as many important historical figures in which they could recall from their previous lessons. These would later be analyzed to assess the demographics of all historical persons submitted by students. My results suggested that most students believed they had encountered an adequate amount of diversity in their history curriculum. This perception was not accurately reflected in the students’ lists of historical persons they remembered studying throughout the year. The results from this study indicate that students are vastly unaware of the lack of diversity presented in their high school social studies curriculum.
Research Question(s)
Do high school juniors in a small, predominantly white town perceive a lack of diversity in the social studies curriculum?
Recommended Citation
Teeple, Joseph, "A Void to Fill: Recognizing a Lack of Diversity in the High School Social Studies Curriculum" (2013). Education Senior Action Research Projects. 31.
https://scholar.valpo.edu/sarp/31
