| Description |
The purpose of this action research project was to analyze the effect of using current event news articles in the classroom to promote citizenship development, and compare citizenship development growth of Caucasian majority students with Latino minority students. The setting for this research project was a sixth grade classroom, and although all twenty students in the classroom participated in class discussions and activities, the experiences of six students are analyzed in a qualitative format; three from the Latino population and three from the Caucasian population. Data was collected in the form of surveys, interviews and writing samples to observe citizenship growth over five months while reading and discussing articles that dealt with global and national issues, such as terrorism, refugees and gun violence. The findings from this study have shown that by studying current events, students gain critical consciousness; the ability to analyze social conditions, form opinions and judge equality or injustice. With those opinions of unjust situations, students also showed the ability to advocate for others facing unfair circumstances and showed growth in leadership. In addition, findings also revealed that discussing current events encourages perspective consciousness and tolerance, the understanding that people have different opinions and encourages them to work together regardless. |
