Dr. SETH A. McCALL
Researcher, Teacher, Artist
ABOUT
Curriculum studies, qualitative research, social studies education, and art with archives
My research intervenes into enduring debates about how qualitative researchers and curriculum scholars relate to archives. When it comes to archives, some advocate dismissal and others prefer adherence. However, rather than finished products to dismiss or obey, my research demonstrates how events today continue to affect what these archives might yet become.
RESEARCH
December 7, 2023
My research agenda explores the unseen potential of archives, by focusing on how they continually get pulled into new events. This work challenges current conceptions about archives as stable foundations, whether this involves the growing archive of conventional qualitative research or the expanding archive of problematic curricula. My research asks how teachers might experiment with these problematic archives to bend them toward socially just ends.
TEACHING
December 7, 2023
Teaching involves diving into archives to create opportunities for students to create new knowledge. This approach to teaching requires an awareness of what archives leave out. Teaching also entails an ability to discern the potential within an archive. Finally, teachers need practice using archives to create something new.
DIVERSITY
December 7, 2023
I grew up on the edge of a city known for airplane manufacturing, following my Mom to daycares and YMCAs where she taught gymnastics to children. In high school, I chose to take courses in the vocational department because college seemed more likely for my wealthier classmates who lived across the street in houses built around a golf course. Then, I took an honors government course and after getting to know students from the honors program, college seemed more attainable.
PUBLICATIONS
Books and Articles
A Troubling Inheritance: Reworking Problematic Curricula
Lexington Books (June 2024)
Great Lakes Social Studies Journal (2024)
Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy (2022)
COURSES
Teacher Education, Curriculum Studies
CURRICULUM THEORY AND HISTORY
Curriculum & Teaching
According to William Pinar curriculum theory is that field of scholarly inquiry which labors to understand teaching and learning across the subject matters and academic disciplines. While subject matter or level specializations (such as the teaching of English, science, mathematics, or early childhood education) tend to focus on teaching strategies and curricular issues within single teaching fields, curriculum theory aspires to understand the overall educational significance of the curriculum, focusing especially upon interdisciplinary themes as well as the relations among curriculum, the individual, and society. We will start by considering curriculum as both intended and unintended lessons that are taught and learned in schools by different students, although this definition might certainly change over the term of this class.
CURRICULUM DESIGN: PLACE-BASED STRATEGIES
Curriculum & Teaching
We will approach curriculum design as a process of negotiation and decision-making that is a living, breathing, ongoing and iterative engagement with ideas, rather than as simply the creation of static curriculum guides or educational products to be implemented by teachers with learners. We hope to imagine curriculum as more than a series of facilitated activities, or opportunities to generate data about effective learning. This perspective of curriculum design endeavors to integrate curriculum theory into the design of lessons, units and workshops that engage learners and teachers in intellectual journeys.
