In this reflection paper, I will be exploring how the concepts of social justice, positionality, and bias apply to my tentative capstone project topic of maker-centered/project-based learning in public school K-12 classrooms. First, I will explain how I can enact the goals of social justice through my research and offer an insight into the lived experiences I will be examining. Then, I will discuss which aspects of educational oppression I am critiquing and my underlying assumptions associated with them. Next, I will explain whether or not I am perpetuating hegemony or generating alternatives. Last, I will describe who my coalition partners may be and other questions I should be asking myself moving forward with this research process. A goal of social justice I hope to champion through my research is equity of educational outcomes. I want to research the modes of instruction that students respond the most positively to and experience the most personal, intellectual, and academic development through. This is largely informed by my own …show more content…
There is an immense pressure on public school teachers to have their students perform well on standardized testing. When students fail to do that, an issue the administration of my underperforming and underfunded public high school constantly grappled with during my time there, it typically is the teacher’s head on the proverbial chopping block. Through my research, I want to explore the ways that maker-centered learning can help students engage with and understand educational concepts in a way that teaching to the test simply cannot. As I’ve learned in another education minor class, The Maker Movement, students develop a profoundly deep understanding of academic material when they have the ability to make real-world/tangible connections to it (i.e. through projects that foster creativity and