Author: Jennifer Marie Miller

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13:

Abstract: This project investigates how issues of multiculturalism and social justice can effectively be addressed through a multimodal Fair Trade curriculum within the section of Art Education 367 at the Ohio State University, taught by the researcher as a Graduate Teaching Associate. Action research methods include pre and post questionnaires, analysis of in-class writing assignments, and researcher field notes; forty-nine undergraduate students participated in the research. If the goals of social justice education are to produce a change within students' perceptions as according to Banks (2006) and Goodman (2001) and to propel students into action and community engagement as according to Ballengee-Morris and Stuhr (2001), effective teaching practices would indicate evidence of perceptional changes and community engagement. Findings indicate that the Fair Trade curriculum project did affect how many students perceived their own privileges, international concerns, and their roles as consumers. The findings also suggest that students began to connect classroom learning with their consumer actions and social interactions. Within the United States, there is a need for scholarly research as well as innovative educational platforms that examine and develop the Fair Trade Movement. The push to internationalize domestically oriented multicultural education within higher education also needs greater experimentation and implementation (Banks, 2006; Lynch, 1989; Peters, 2004). The study contributes to the exploration of these issues specifically within the multicultural art education classroom. This research may also assist in examining practices and priorities within the broad and diverse curriculum goals of the Art Education 367 general education course.