Browsing by Author "Mayorga, Edwin"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    The Impact of Community Building on Student Achievement
    (2017) Sun, Kathy; Mayorga, Edwin; Kuperberg, Mark
    This thesis looks at the impact of community building on student achievement. The theoretical framework stems from Akerlof and Kranton's paper on how student identity impacts schooling outcomes. By combining economic and sociological theories, they argue that community building increases student identification with school and student achievement. Through a literature review, I categorize the ways that schools build community. I then test Akerlof and Kranton's theory that community building increases student identification and achievement through a review of the literature and my own quantitative analysis. I ultimately find that while community building increases student identification, it does not increase achievement.
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    Negotiating Ideology, Self, and Classroom Instruction: A Framework of Critical Text Selection for High School English Language Arts Curricula
    (2022) Bautista, Abigail; Mayorga, Edwin; Schmidt, Peter
    Although educators of color are faced with the unique challenges of negotiating their identities and their professional obligations, there is an absence of teachers of color’s perspectives within the discourse of Curriculum Studies and K-12 education at large. In mediating these tensions, this thesis provides an autoethnographic account of an aspiring Filipino-American high school English Language Arts (ELA) educator’s process in developing a critical, practical framework for incorporating texts that allows instruction to uphold the promises liberatory pedagogies in the context a high school ELA classroom. The development of a critical framework underscores the importance of examining layers of intersecting histories: the teacher’s positionality, the material context of the classroom, and the discourses of the implemented texts. The practical application of this framework and the findings within this project provides insight in the ideological orientations that inform curriculum design and practical considerations that allow educators to meet the academic and socio-emotional needs of the students.
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    Not Just Teaching How: Supporting a Culture Shift in STEM Education
    (2021) Ramirez Velazquez, Miryam; Mayorga, Edwin
    During the fall semester of my junior year, I became involved with Swarthmore’s Tech for Social Good (T4SG) student organization. The club aims, “to channel technical talent and resources on campus to benefit our community at large given an existing need, and hope to promote a culture of technology & social impact on campus.” (T4SG website, n.d.) Students with computer science backgrounds come together in this club and offer technical assistance for organizations that need the support. I was a technical lead for a project that aimed to develop a website for the organizer of Chester Youth Courts. Another important aspect of the club was its ability to provide educational resources for students on campus. They offer a variety of workshops throughout the semester that range from web development to this directed reading specifically focusing on technology and social justice. In this directed reading, we covered a variety of topics that centered on the social implications of technology. We read about the ethics around data privacy, the racism seen in algorithmic bias, technology and its influence on accessibility, etc. Ultimately, the focus was less on the concepts of computer science and more on the impact.
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    Race and Language: A Blueprint for Structuring an Educational Curriculum about the Black Experience in the United States
    (2022) Paulson, Joel; Mayorga, Edwin
    It should surprise no one that the condition of race relations in this country is as poor now as they are. With recent and historical events that have occurred in this country in relation to the Black experience (indeed the experience of any of the marginalized communities that call the United States their home), the logical history lesson is that our children should be educated as in the words of George Santayana; “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” In this way, we see the wave of protests, court cases, and rhetoric surrounding race welling up around the nation. Conflicts in the legislative bodies, the court system, the prison system, the educational system, and many more have become increasingly common. With no set curriculum across any of the fifty states to educate youth on the experience of Black folx and African Americans in this country, it should come as no surprise that we do see history repeating itself and racial conditions deteriorating (if they were ever even “better” to begin with).
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    Reclaiming Civics: Negotiating Priorities for Civic Education Pedagogy
    (2021) Thoma, Skylar; Mayorga, Edwin; Diament, Sean
    Civic education has always been a battleground in American political debates, yet it is more necessary than ever given intense political polarization and waning participation among youth. After providing a brief synopsis of the history of civic education, this thesis considers four pedagogical frameworks available to educators as they attempt to address these challenges: civic knowledge, skills, values, and motivation. In order to address low political participation among youth, a traditional emphasis on civic knowledge is insufficient for motivating students; rather, educators should directly cultivate students' political efficacy through experiential learning programs. Meanwhile, a reliance on a common values system faces significant practical and normative challenges. Educators must therefore cultivate students' critical thinking and deliberation skills in an open classroom environment. For both experiential learning programs and open classroom environments, educators must ensure students' agency in order to protect against hegemonic narratives and structures. While this thesis only provides a cursory examination of the logistics involved in civic education courses , these recommendations should prove helpful as educators and policymakers design lesson plans for the next generation of American citizens.
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    Resisting the Western Scientist Inside and Outside of the Collegiate Biology Classroom
    (2022) Ventura, Dulce Guadalupe; Mayorga, Edwin; Vallen, Elizabeth
    In this thesis, I explore how conceptions of western science and scientists invade the Swarthmore Biology department and how it impacts BIPOC students inside and outside the classroom. The findings indicate that BIPOC students are routinely harmed by many ideas conceived from colonialism. However, both students and faculty demonstrate resistance inside and outside the classroom. Inside the classroom, faculty members build strong relationships with students in small communities and negate Western science's claim of objectivity. Outside of the classroom, programs like the Biology Big Sibling-Little Sibling program are recentering BIPOC students and their lived experiences, effectively creating a community where BIPOC students can safely exist.
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