Jiayi's scholar interests

Hi, welcome to Jiayi's blog again!

Currently, I am in the Social Education Program. I believe that education is an important part of our social culture. Social culture influences our education system, and cultivated individuals through our education system shape our future society. Our society is a complex machine without a manual. The mutual influence between education and society is invisible but fascinating. 

My current research interest is civic education. This selection of research field is started from my childhood with my grandmother. My grandmother is a JH school math teacher and has a great influence on my life choices. When I was young, she encouraged me to actively participate in her class(just me and her), such as discussing to buy which kind of blackboard and chalk together, selecting teaching methods, etc., which gave me a great sense of pride.

 

However, I found that these behaviors of mine could not be carried out in ordinary schools and would not be encouraged. In my later teaching career, I also hope that my students will actively participate in the class and become the main body of the classroom, but it is difficult to achieve. 

Compared with my childhood experience, I strongly believe that the more students take part in, the more they will gain corresponding knowledge and skills, and engage responsibility for the group, the community, the society, just like when I was a child to maintain the class with my grandmother. Then, I learned that civic education can help achieve this, so I began to get into this field. 

I hope that through these years of exploration, I can further clarify how to promote civic efficacy and find the hidden influential factors. Of course, I also hope to collaborate with other researchers in the field of education.

My core research interest focuses civic education. I wonder how students' participation in civic education impacts their knowledge, skills, and responsiblility of society. Through my research, I hope to uncover the hidden reasons of civic efficacy and civic education.

Under the guidance of my advisor, Dr. Johnson, through reading literature, I have basically sorted out the implementation area, civic curriculum, civic engagement in different schools, and influencing factors of civic education, especially in hidden curriculum.

Now, my research interest focuses on examining the correlation between teachers' ethnity and civic efficacy in different school, such as private school.

After graduation, I hope to work at a university where I can continue my research in civic education and teaching students as well. I also look forward to broadening my career visions and finding more possibilities, just like I can't imagine I was in Purdue four years ago!