Date of Award

Summer 2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Transformative Education and Social Change

Committee Chairperson

John Elmore, Ph.D.

Abstract

Contemporary education in the post-industrial western world functions to prepare students for participation in a dominant culture as compliant employees and abiding citizens. In rebellion against this institutional paradigm are educational practices that equip students with the ability to engage in critical analysis and engage with their communities as whole, self-knowing individuals. To accomplish this, educational endeavors are in desperate need of curricula that invite the totality of student and community experience into spaces of learning. These environments foster authentic growth and capitalize on the educational resource of student experience as a worthy source of knowledge. Intergenerational oral history as a teaching tool invites present, reflective conversation, and empowers youth participants to tap into thoughtful question-posing as a way to create moments of learning and connection out of otherwise mundane interactions. Intergenerational oral history also serves a rapidly growing elder population by honoring their life experience; connects younger generations to ancestral knowledge; uses the timeless wisdom of storytelling as its’ central teaching tool; and nurtures conversation skills in an increasingly digital age. As a tool for community-centered education, intergenerational oral history projects are remarkably beneficial, and the time is ideal to use this deceptively simple practice in contemporary educational spaces.

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