Year of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Name

Education

Other Degree Name/Area of Focus

Curriculum & Instruction

Department or School/College

Phyllis J. Washington College of Education

Committee Chair

Lucila T. Rudge PhD

Commitee Members

Dr. Betsy W. Bach, Dr. Morgan Alwell

Keywords

qualitative research, International Mindedness, pedagogical implication

Subject Categories

Curriculum and Instruction

Abstract

International Mindedness is central to the mission of International Baccalaureate (IB) education and may be defined as a frame of mind enabling a person to get rid of prejudices of self and embrace a greater sense of the other. Through this study, I analyzed how International Mindedness (IM) is taught in a high school in the Western U.S. and prepared some suggestions for teachers in my country of origin (Pakistan). In this research, I studied three attributes of IM: multilingualism, intercultural understanding and global engagement. Studying IM was significant because it may address the problem of closed-mindedness in Pakistan and may cultivate in learners the ability to belong to the whole world and respect the whole of humanity as they respect themselves. In my study, I have followed qualitative case study design to understand how two IB teachers incorporated the idea of IM in their pedagogy. Qualitative case study design was an appropriate method for this study because it permitted an in-depth focus on issues to understand participants’ perspectives. Participants were selected based on purposeful, convenient sampling in order to gather data from teachers in an IB school. Thematic analysis was done with the qualitative data. Deductive data analysis was followed to identify an educational process and attribute meaning to the texts. Results were generated after triangulation of data gathered through observations, semi-structured interviews, and teaching materials from teachers A and B. Through the findings, it is highlighted that teachers consider global engagement, intercultural understanding, and multilingualism closely associated with fostering IM in their classes.

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© Copyright 2017 Madiha Syeda