The Summer 2022 edition of Learning Connections, a magazine for alumni and friends of the UW–Madison School of Education, is now posted online.
This latest issue centers on “Rising to the Challenge.” The nation is divided on a range of topics and ongoing divisions are making it difficult to solve problems. In this environment, School of Education faculty, staff, and alumni are rising to the challenge — and above the political noise — to demonstrate how quality education can play a vital role in helping people better understand each other and work together to reimagine a better future.
This edition of Learning Connections also highlights important and innovative work being done across the arts, health, and education. A pdf of the print edition is available here.
Highlights from the section of Learning Connections that centers on the “Rising to the Challenge” theme include:
- ‘The Political Classroom’ holds potential to reduce partisan divide: Diana Hess — who has researched this topic since 1997 — explains in this Q&A why helping young people deliberate, engage, and learn about sometimes controversial political topics is vital to a healthy democracy.
- PurpleState aims to combat ‘real world’ political polarization: The online simulation PurpleState, developed by UW-Madison’s Jeremy Stoddard and colleagues, teaches students about the inner workings of political messaging and 21st century media, and gives them a better understanding of political polarization.
- The Discussion Project: Engaging classroom discussion fuels learning. But quality discourse doesn’t just happen. This initiative is a professional development series that gives instructors vital skills to improve quality classroom discussion and learning.
- Teaching About the 2022 Elections Conference: Politics can be divisive, confusing, and challenging to approach. This event will help educators find ways to ensure their students can discuss sensitive and important topics with care, knowledge, and facts.
- Alum helping United Nations shape the future of education: Noah Sobe, who earned his PhD in 2005 from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, helped develop the report, “Reimagining Our Futures Together: a New Social Contract for Education.”
Additional coverage includes:
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Faisal Abdu’Allah Building a ‘Counter-monument’: Faisal Abdu’Allah shares his desire for artists of color to create new monuments that represent and celebrate their own experiences.
- A groundbreaking project for a trailblazing team: A team of Black women doctoral students from the School of Education is playing a leading role in a major new study examining how racial stress within higher education relates to health outcomes for Black women in academia.
- MSAN Network: Spring 2022 School of Education graduate Sofia Garcia Garbuno explains the significant positive influence the MSAN Network has had on their education experience, noting a “feeling of empowerment.”
- Graduate student scholarship honors leader in comparative education: Andreas Kazamias is among the world’s leading experts in comparative humanistic education. To honor and celebrate his remarkable career and life journey, three anonymous donors created a graduate student scholarship in his honor.
- New program aimed at health promotion and health equity graduates first students: After more than two years of the pandemic highlighting the harsh reality of health inequity in Wisconsin and across the United States, the first graduates of the School of Education’s new program aimed at bolstering health education and combating inequity are entering the workforce.
- Class Notes: Check out what our School of Education alumni from across the globe have been up to.
But there is more — much more — to learn about. See it all, here.