For The Culture.

Imagine living in a state that prohibits the teaching of your culture in public schools, or erases it entirely.

That is the reality for many students of color in Texas schools today due to recent legislation. This rewriting or erasure of culture can lead to curriculum violence, which is deliberate manipulation of academic programming which compromises the intellectual or psychological well-being of learners.

For The Culture serves as a platform to empower the 72% of students of color in Texas by teaching the history of multiple cultural backgrounds, and if implemented lessening the affects of curriculum violence.

Tools

Figma

Excel

Role

Sole Designer/Researcher

Skills

Ethnographic interviews

Data analysis

Prototyping

Key Features

Easy to understand outline of curriculum laws in the state of Texas for parents.
History curriculum break down per grade level to inform parents
A diverse set of historical figures, and events that correlate with classroom curriculum for ease of understanding
Shopping tab to allow parents to buy books with diverse characters, as well as allow students to explore their interests
A variety of media types including, articles, short form videos, and long term videos, and books to cater to multiple learning types.

Social Impact

If implemented could create a deeper understanding of how new laws affect children in school, and increase voter turnout
If implemented could create communal understanding of what is being taught in the state of Texas for each grade level, demystifying school curriculum.
If implemented could grant opportunity for students and parents to learn more about their history, and exercise cultural pride
If implemented could deepen children’s love for learning, and encourage them to read more because they are reflected in the story book characters.

There’s a method to my madness! View my research.

Literature Review

Although I have experienced the altering and erasing of my own culture in school. I acknowledge I am only one designer, and drawing from many sources is paramount to good designs here are my top insights.

- Feeling ashamed of ones culture because the way it is being taught in the classroom is an experience that has happened to many people, especially African Americans.
- Curriculum violence lowers POC students ability to recover from academic stress
- To make students feel more empowered when they are learning about their history it is imperative to center success instead of centering struggle.

A Call for Research

For The Culture, started as a design for a research study, and morphed into a website prototype. One product that came out of that transformation was a call for research on the topic of curriculum violence from designers, as well as a call for experience designers to have a seat at the political table.

Read my essay!

- Curriculum violence is understudied
- People who suffer from curriculum violence are the same people who have been denied education in the U.S
- Designers can, not only design physical and digital products, but they can design everyday services like school curriculum.

Interviews

To learn more about cultural learning in the education system I interviewed people of different ages, including current high school students, of varying cultural backgrounds, and current teachers.I then created a chart with my responses.

“I felt ashamed to be Mexican because we were taught in a way that made it seem like the US deserved Mexico’s territory.”
“This semester they allowed me to talk about Fredrick Douglas and I ran with it... honestly the new legislation makes me consider teaching in private school.”

Look mom! I conducted my own research survey!

As a former student of the Texas public education system I was a victim of curriculum violence, but I wanted to understand how other former students felt . Due to research constraints talking to school aged children was difficult but, I created a survey that was distributed via social media, and word of mouth to reach at least some high school aged participants.

Check out the Survey!

Results to responding to the question “did/do you feel your culture was accurately represented in your public school?

I created a persona based on an interview of a current 8th grade teacher that I interviewed. Through my interview I gained an understanding of how much agency teachers have in teaching what they want despite the new laws.

Key Findings

None of the Black Asian, or Native American respondents said they felt represented by their school curriculum.

When responding to the question “have you ever thought about historical events are taught can effect other students?” all high school participants responded with no
highschool poc respondents identified their negative emotions but did not pin point curriculum as the culprit.

Understanding The Perspective of Teachers

Key Findings

Coming up with a way to directly solve the problem proved to be extremely difficult with the potential for teachers to be reported if they were to mention certain topics in class, due to current legislation. There are even similar laws for the university level as well in the state of Texas.

But knowing my audience to be children I decided to go with a website to be the most accessible no matter the socioeconomic status of the user, as well as accessibility for older guardians like grandparents.

How Does it Work?

For The Culture. allows students to learn about their culture based on their grade level and cultural background. After creating a profile For The Culture will show them curated, books, historical figures, and media that teaches them out the greatness of their history.

For The Culture. allows parents to review the state laws pertaining to curriculum in an easy to understand way, view what their child is learning in school, and purchase books with a diverse set of characters.

Student Screens

Students can look at content based on their grade level.

For The Culture. content coincides with the topics students are already learning. While adding additional information that highlights their cultural heritage that is added to their profile in on-boarding.

Students can learn about historical figures that share their identity.

Parents can build their own avatar that looks exactly like them.

Parent Screens

Parents can choose what cultures they identify with and which ones they would like their child to learn about.

Parents can read a simplified version of the new laws that are affecting their child, as well as find out how to help.

Lo-Fi white board Gallery

Before deciding on content I had to consider how the solution of a website would help the problem of curriculum violence through a pros and cons list.