Date of Graduation

Summer 2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Education (MEd)

Department

Transformative Education and Social Change

Committee Chairperson

John Elmore, PhD

Committee Member

Jason Wozniak, PhD

Committee Member

Dana Morrison, PhD

Abstract

Teaching for Meaning is fundamentally a paper about the need for a philosophical shift in current educational goals. The current institution of public education relies on “job training skills” and ideas of “global competitiveness” as its most important outcomes. This thesis argues that not only are these goals insufficient but actually detrimental to human development. The thesis seeks a method to shift to a more humanistic approach of education through the inclusion of several potential methods. Those methods include the implementation of democratic schooling, youth participatory action research and death studies.  In order to establish those methods the thesis the argument for its inclusion as well as a philosophical basis for the curriculum. Additionally, the thesis advocates for death studies as the pillar of the curriculum change. Being the pillar of the thesis, death studies received most of the detailed attention. Utilizing academic works from the 1950s until now, the thesis argues that not only would it lead to a better developed education but also indicates that there is a desire from students to learn about it.  This thesis is an initial foray into the need, goals, and future research on death studies and its role in public education.

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