February 2010 > Faculty > Grants

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Freedman To Study Student Response to Conflict

GSE Professor Sarah Freedman and co-project director Karen Murphy of Facing History and Ourselves will explore the processes by which high school students develop as civic actors. Their study, funded through a 3.5-year grant from the Spencer Foundation and co-sponsored by UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center, will examine identity-group conflicts and how students’ experiences with violence and conflict affect their development to engage in civic action.

The study is situated in social studies classes in three areas of the world where the Facing History and Ourselves curriculum is taught: the United States, South Africa and Northern Ireland. Freedman and Murphy believe the Facing History curriculum is a promising “tool” for developing students’ sense of civic responsibility and engaging them in civic actions.  The research team will explore differences and similarities in how cultural and historical contexts relate to the development of civic responsibility for civic action across the three locales.

The project abstract is available here [pdf].

 

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