Black History Month: an investigation of the impact of a curriculum for increasing the knowledge of elementary students\u27 knowledge of African-American history

The significance of this current study was to show the importance of Black History being added to the curriculum for elementary students of all ethnicities, but especially with the African-American children. During this study the students were given a pre- and post-test on the Civil Rights Movement for the month of February. The study consisted of 40 students from an upper elementary school located in southern New Jersey. Of the participants 26 were female and 14 were male; there are 4 special needs students and 2 in a reading program called Read 180. All were in the 6th grade with ages ranging from 11-13 years old. The ethnic groups of the children that participated in this study were: 27 African-American, 6 Caucasians, 5 Hispanic, 1 Asian, and 1 Indian child. The students were given a pre-test that consisted of questions about the Civil Rights Movement, which were given at the end of January. Later once the teacher had taught the students about Civil Rights Movement by using videos, PowerPoints, discussions, and worksheet; the students were given the post test at the end of February. The results exhibited from the study were able to show that all students in the study made a great gain in knowledge about the Civil Rights Movement, not just the African-American students