Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Baram, Uzi

Keywords

Sarasota, Florida, Education Reform, Pedagogy, Education, United States

Area of Concentration

Anthropology

Abstract

In this thesis, I analyze the current state of public education in the United States. I argue that heritage and food are both successful vehicles for learning, and I question why no combination of this sort has been offered to American pedagogy. I explain how I created a series of lesson plans that use this “novel combination” with the intention of teaching fourth grade students in a Florida public school about heritage and preservation. I describe the difficulties that teachers and administration are facing with the adoption of the Common Core State Standards in bringing creativity into the classroom. I analyze how standardized tests in the United States are innately unfair, and examine how race creates and perpetuates educational inequalities in the US. I piloted my lesson plans at Fruitville Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. Overall, my project proved successful in that the students were actively engaged and demonstrated new knowledge. There is much more work yet to be done here. This thesis is not a finished product, but rather a call for action.

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