Social Justice Teaching in the Elementary General Education Classroom

The research question addressed in this project was: what are effective strategies for teaching social justice to elementary students and how will using them affect elementary students’ attitudes toward and knowledge of social justice? This capstone describes the research behind, development of, and the results of using a toolkit for elementary teachers looking to implement social justice education in an effective way. The toolkit includes web resources, lesson plans, children’s literature regarding social justice, teacher reference books, ideas for active service learning projects, and potential journal prompts for students about social justice. The research behind the project included research into social inequities in society as a basis for the need for social justice education, an overview of prominent theorists in the field of social justice, and strategies that have been researched and have shown to be effective for implementing social justice education. The prominent strategies included are: foundational social justice education practices (Adams & Bell, 2016; Friere, 2000; Baker, 2011; hooks, 1994; Wade, 2007; Butin, 2007), critical literacy and writing (Baker, 2011; Seely & Tropp, 2012), incorporating student cultures and absent narratives (Baker, 2011), active service learning projects (Butin, 2007; Wade, 2007; Mitchel, 2007; Warren, 1998), and a nonviolent approach to teaching social justice education (Wang; 2013). The toolkit was successfully implemented in a second grade classroom with meaningful results. Recommendations for future implications of this project include the need for social justice education to be required in schools and the need for more research in social justice education in the elementary setting