Multiculturalism and Social Justice - PassionateTeachingJourney.com

For the signature assignment in Module 6 and Module 7, I was to design a curricular unit. The curriculum could be based on a discipline or a workplace environment of my choice. My task was to create a curriculum for teaching a social justice issue to a diverse and varied community with many different cultures. As we explored throughout the course, a broad range of topics fit within a social justice framework, and I needed to consider how to design a curriculum for a varied cultural population effectively.

This assignment had several parts outlined below.

Curriculum: I needed to create a unit focused on social justice. I chose to develop a unit within a higher education setting with two weekly classes; I envisioned it as a two-week unit. I was also to include a technological component in this curriculum.

Design: I needed to find appropriate readings, create good discussions, and develop specific assignments. The section was to consist of the following:

Learning outcomes.
Written overview of the topic, discipline, workplace focus, and audience.
Learning theory philosophy.
Use of technology.
The sequence of the curriculum, including the readings, discussions, activities, and assignments.

Readings: I was to embed the assigned reading assignments within my developed sequence. In this section, I was to provide an annotated bibliography. I was to include at least five sources in APA format and summarize the readings in 4-5 sentences. I Included the sources that I found helpful in developing the curriculum.

Metacognition: I was to write a 1-2 page double-spaced metacognitive conclusion explaining the importance of the social justice topic within the particular discipline or environment and how the curriculum was shaped to acknowledge the cultural diversity of the learners.

Social Justice Curriculum for Higher Education

Frank Jamison

The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

EP746: Culture’s Place in Learning and Technology

Dr. Kate Green

December 11, 2022

Curriculum

This course will be a two-week learning experience at a higher education institution consisting of 1-hour classes two times per week for a total of 4 class sessions.

Lesson 1: Defining Social Justice

Objectives

Students will be able to define the four fundamental principles of social justice.
Students will be able to identify current social injustice issues.

Activities

Hold an Interactive discussion on the meaning of social justice.
Hold breakout groups to brainstorm current social injustice issues.
Group discussion covering why social injustices occur.

Assigned Readings

Angu, P. E. (2018). Understanding voices from the margins: Social injustice and agency in first-year students’ literacy narratives. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 43(8), 1152–1162. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877x.2018.1458977

MasterClass. (2022). What is social justice? Social Justice Definition and examples – 2022. MasterClass. Retrieved December 3, 2022, from https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-social-justice

Lesson 2: Social Injustice

Objectives

Students will be able to define social injustice.
Students will be able to identify the causes of social injustice.
Students will be able to identify the effects of social injustice.
Students will be able to identify some ways to combat social injustice.

Activities

Study.com interactive quiz (gamification)
Writing/Drawing social injustice experiences
Group discussion on social injustice experiences
Teacher lecture on social injustices previously identified in Lesson 1
Group reflection on how identified injustices from Lesson 1 might affect the victims

Media

Study.com. (n.d.). Root Causes of Social Injustice. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://study.com/academy/lesson/root-causes-of-social-injustice.html.

Assigned Readings

Williams, D., & Cooper, L. (2019). Reducing racial inequities in health: Using what we already know to take action. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(4), 606. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16040606.

World Health Organization. (2008). Chapter 2: Global health inequity – the need for action. In Closing the gap in a generation: Health equity through action on the Social Determinants of Health (pp. 29–34). essay.

World Health Organization. (2008). Chapter 3: Causes and solutions. In Closing the gap in a generation: Health equity through action on the Social Determinants of Health (pp. 35–39). essay.

Lesson 3: Social Determinants of Health

Objectives

Students will be able to define the term Social Determinants of Health (SDoH).
Students will be able to identify how the SDoH can affect an individual’s health.

Activities

Lecture on the definition of SDoH.
Interactive discussion on SDoH examples.
Lecture on SDoH domains.
SDoH Worksheet
Discussion on the SDoH Worksheet answers

Media

Urban Institute. (2016). The Picture of Health: – Urban Institute. The Picture of Health. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://apps.urban.org/features/picture-of-health/video.html

Urban Institute. (2018). Dr. Camara Jones Explains the Cliff of Good Health. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to7Yrl50iHI

Assigned Readings

Hawthorne, T. L., & Kwan, M.-P. (2013). Exploring the unequal landscapes of healthcare accessibility in lower-income urban neighborhoods through Qualitative Inquiry. Geoforum, 50, 97–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2013.08.002

Optional Readings

Jones, C. P., Jones, C. Y., Perry, G. S., Barclay, G., & Jones, C. A. (2009). Addressing the Social Determinants of Children’s Health: A Cliff Analogy. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 20(4A), pp. 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1353/hpu.0.0228

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Social Determinants of Health Literature Summaries. Social Determinants of Health Literature Summaries – Healthy People 2030. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://health.gov/healthypeople/priority-areas/social-determinants-health/literature-summaries

Lesson 4: Universal Healthcare

Objectives

Students will be able to define the term Universal Healthcare.
Students will be able to list the pros and cons of universal healthcare.
Students will be able to articulate why the pros of universal healthcare outweigh the cons.

Activities

Interactive Discussion: Is Healthcare a Right or a Luxury
Interactive Discussion: The Pros and Cons of Universal Healthcare Coverage

Media

Chitty, T. (2017). Can universal health care work? CNBC International. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcny49qibQs.

Martin, G. (2017). Universal Health Coverage explained. DCP-3. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlETZ202Ovg.

Sammour, T. (2018). Healthcare: Is It a Right or a Luxury? TEDx Talks. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCVmY1iOJQs.

Optional Readings

Crowley, R., Daniel, H., Cooney, T. G., & Engel, L. S. (2020). Envisioning a better U.S. Health Care System for all: Coverage and cost of care. Annals of Internal Medicine, 172(2_Supplement). https://doi.org/10.7326/m19-2415

World Health Organization. (‎2014)‎. Making fair choices on the path to universal health coverage: final report of the WHO consultative group on equity and universal health coverage. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/112671

Instructional Design

Lesson 1: Defining Social Justice

Objectives

Students will be able to define the four fundamental principles of social justice.
Students will be able to identify current social injustice issues.

What is Social Justice? (20 minutes)

Ask each student to write down what comes to mind when they hear the term “Social Justice” on a notecard.
After gathering the notecards, write the responses on the board. Ask if they have heard the term “social justice” before and why the issues on the board come to mind.
Define the 4 Fundamental Principles of Social Justice (MasterClass, 2022)

Equality of opportunity: Traditional justice (at least in theory) guarantees equal rights before the law and equal opportunity for all people. Social justice advocates believe these are necessary but need more steps and protections to achieve true equality.
Equity of outcome: Social justice activists believe a civil society must strive to end income inequality, racial inequality, and other disparities between groups until everyone has the same privileges, rights, and resources. Still, the definition of social justice is malleable, so some might specifically include caveats about this position.
Human rights: A society’s social development depends, in part, on its recognition of human rights for all groups of people, regardless of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, potential disabilities, or other identifying attributes. Human rights enshrine the innate dignity of each person in the eyes of the law and culture in general.
Inclusion: To achieve social justice, adherents of the philosophy believe all human beings need a seat at the table. Ensuring that everyone can help drive the decision-making process regarding which social changes should take hold in society.

What is Social Injustice? (30 minutes)

Transition into defining social injustice. If we know what social justice is, what is social injustice, and how does it occur?
Place the students in small groups to brainstorm issues of social injustice they know and have them write these ideas on poster boards around the classroom. (5 minutes)
Follow up by having each group go to another group’s poster and brainstorm why those injustices occur. (5 minutes)
Conduct a short class discussion based on these posters on what we see and know of our world. Then discuss their ideas on why they think these injustices occur.
On the back of the notecards from the beginning of class, have the students answer the following questions: Why should we care about social justice? Do these issues relate to our lives? If so, how? And if not, why? (5 minutes)

Assigned Readings

Lesson 2: Social Injustice

Objectives

Students will be able to define the term social injustice.
Students will be able to identify the causes of social injustice.
Students will be able to identify the effects of social injustice.
Students will be able to identify some ways to combat social injustice.

Root Causes of Social Injustice (20 minutes)

Play the short Root Causes of Social Injustice video (Study.com).
Have students use their phones to play the Study.com Interactive Quiz Game for this lesson.

Witnessing to Social Injustice (30 minutes)

Ask the students to think of a time when they have seen social injustice, either as a victim or a witness, and have them write down or draw a picture of this experience to share with the class.
As the students share their experiences, discuss what it would be like to be the victim in each instance as a class.
Transition into discussing the social injustices found on the poster boards in the class from Lesson 1. Have the students think about the victims of these injustices. Then, discuss how these injustices might affect the lives of the victims.

Assigned Readings

World Health Organization. (2008). Chapter 3: Causes and solutions. In Closing the gap in a generation: Health equity through action on the Social Determinants of Health (pp. 35–39). essay.

Lesson 3: Social Determinants of Health

Objectives:

Students will be able to define Social Determinants of Health (SDoH).
Students will be able to identify how the SDoH can affect an individual’s health.

The Cliff of Good Health (20 minutes)

Play the short video The Picture of Health (Urban Institute, 2016)
Play the short video Dr. Camara Jones Explains the Cliff of Good Health (Urban Institute, 2018)
Define the term “Social Determinants of Health.”
“Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Social Determinants of Health)
Ask the students for ideas of some social determinants of health and write them on the board. Then, discuss how each impacts overall health.
Play the short video Social Determinants of Health – An Introduction (Appuhamy, (2017)

Social Determinants of Health – Domains (30 Minutes)

Write the 5 Social Determinant of Health Domains on the board and discuss each domain
- Economic Stability (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Economic stability)
  - 1 in 10 people in the U.S. live in poverty, and many cannot afford healthy foods, health care, and housing.
  - People employed steadily are less likely to live in poverty and more likely to be healthy.
  - Disabled people, people with injuries, or people with arthritis and similar conditions may be especially at risk for unemployment.
  - Many steadily employed people still need to earn more to buy the things they need to stay healthy.
  - High-quality childcare, career counseling, and Employment programs can help many people find and keep jobs.
  - Policies that assist in paying for food, housing, health care, and education can improve health and well-being and reduce poverty.”
- Education Access and Quality (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Education Access and Quality)
  - Higher levels of education make people more likely to be healthy and live longer.
  - Children from low SES families, those with disabilities, and those who routinely experience bullying are more likely to struggle with math and reading. As a result, they are less likely to graduate from high school or go to college.
  - Living in poverty can also affect a child’s brain development, making it more difficult for them to do well in school.
  - Programs that help adolescents and children do well in school and help families pay for college can have long-term health benefits.
- Health Care Access and Quality (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Care Access and Quality)
  - Many people in the U.S. do not get the health care services they need.
  - Around 10% of people in the United States do not have health insurance.
  - Those without health insurance are less likely to have a primary care physician and may be unable to pay for health care services and medications.
  - Programs to increase health insurance coverage and access to health care professionals are imperative for allowing more people to receive preventive care and treatment for chronic illnesses.
- Neighborhood and Built Environment (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Neighborhood and built environment)
  - Where people live can significantly impact their health and well-being.
  - Racial/ethnic minorities and people with low incomes are more likely to live in places with high rates of violence, unsafe air or water, and other health and safety risks. In addition, they may work in places exposed to environmental hazards like secondhand smoke and loud noises.
  - Government programs that reduce health and safety risks and promote good health, such as adding new sidewalks and bike lanes to allow people to walk and bike to work, can increase safety, improve health, and increase the quality of life.
- Social and Community Context (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Social and community context)
  - Interactions with family, friends, co-workers, and community members can significantly affect people’s health and well-being.
  - People living in unsafe neighborhoods, facing discrimination, or having trouble affording the things they need are more likely to see negative impacts on health and safety throughout life.
  - Programs that provide social and community support are crucial for improving the health and well-being of needy individuals.
Have the students complete the following handout in class (10 minutes)
Go over the answers to the handout with the class

Assigned Readings

Optional Readings

Lesson 4: Universal Healthcare

Objectives

Students will be able to define the term Universal Healthcare.
Students will be able to list the pros and cons of universal healthcare.
Students will be able to articulate why the pros of universal healthcare outweigh the cons.

Healthcare: A Right or a Luxury (30 minutes)

Play the video Healthcare: Is It a Right or a Luxury? (Sammour, 2018)
Discuss with students whether healthcare is a right or a luxury. Write reasons for each option on the board and get a class consensus.

Universal Health Coverage (20 minutes)

Play the short video Universal Health Coverage explained (Martin, 2017)
Play the short video Can universal health care work? (Chitty, 2017)
Lead the class in discussing the pros and cons of universal healthcare.

Optional Readings

Annotated Bibliography

This article examines the literacy narratives of first-year students at a South African university. First, passages from these narratives show how this writing genre serves as an outlet for recounting experiences of social injustice and agency. Next, the article shows how the experiences of these students in dealing with social injustice and their sense of agency intersect to guide their development in literacy from elementary school to college. The article contends that, although literacy narratives give instructors an account of students’ prior learning experiences and their discomfort with higher education literacy expectations, they also capture the social injustices they have faced and their responses to them.

Bloom, D. E., Khoury, A., & Subbaraman, R. (2018). The promise and peril of Universal Health Care. Science, 361(6404). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat9644

In this article, Bloom et al. explain that universal health coverage appears achievable thanks to social and economic progress but that UHC can mean different things depending on context. The authors review the health priorities of many nations worldwide and the skills, technology, and funding needed to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) for all.

In this position paper, the American College of Physicians (ACP) proposes strategies the U.S. can use to achieve a better healthcare system. The authors explain how the U.S. fairs substantially worse than its peers in most dimensions of value regarding healthcare coverage and that many Americans, even those with health insurance, cannot afford rising healthcare costs. The first part of this paper discusses why the U.S. needs to do better regarding healthcare coverage and associated costs. Part two presents a couple of options used to achieve universal health coverage. Finally, part 3 explains how focusing on value-based health care can reduce costs.

In this paper, the authors use qualitative inquiry to investigate the complex and unequal landscapes of healthcare accessibility in the Near Eastside of Columbus, Ohio. Here, they interview lower-income residents in the area to challenge the claim that the neighborhood has adequate healthcare accessibility simply because it contains multiple free and low-cost clinics. The authors then focus on the residents’ everyday experiences as they try to access healthcare in their neighborhoods and the larger urban area. Their work develops multiple narratives and details the real-life experiences of lower-income residents as they seek access to quality, affordable, and accessible healthcare.

This paper provides an overview of the critical steps needed to reduce racial inequities in health. First, the authors argue that developing communities of opportunity that offer early childhood development resources, work and income support options for adults, and healthy housing and neighborhood conditions can minimize the adverse impacts of systemic racism. Next, the authors point out that the healthcare system needs to emphasize ensuring high-quality care for all, focusing on preventative healthcare, addressing social needs, and diversifying the healthcare workforce. Finally, the authors advocate the need for new research to strategize the building of political will to support managing the social inequities in health. Building empathy and support for tackling these inequities and implementing large-scale efforts to reduce racial prejudice, ideologies, and stereotypes in the larger culture may also have a significant effect.

This final report by the Consultative Group of the World Health Organization offers recommendations for how countries can address the critical issues of fairness and equity that arise on the path to universal healthcare coverage (UHC). In this report, the authors outline a three-part strategy for countries seeking a fair and progressive realization of UHC. This strategy includes categorizing services into priority classes, ensuring that disadvantaged groups are not left behind, and making and enforcing reasonable decisions facilitated by robust public accountability and participation mechanisms.

Metacognition

There are many social justice issues in the world today. In the United States, some of these issues include racial justice, poverty and inequality, the criminal legal system, children in the criminal and juvenile justice systems, drug policy, rights of non-citizens, health and human rights, voting rights, climate change policy and impacts, women’s and girls’ health rights, disability rights, older people’s rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, national security, and foreign policy (Human Rights Watch, 2022), to name a few.

The first two lessons in this course tackle the issues of social justice and injustice, and the third lesson focuses on the social justice issue of health and human rights and the social determinants of health. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce estimated that the population of the United States on January 1, 2022, was 332,403,650 and that the world population was 7,868,872,451. Furthermore, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that “currently, at least half of the people in the world do not receive the health services they need.” In addition, “About 100 million people are pushed into extreme poverty each year because of out-of-pocket spending on health” (World Health Organization, Universal Health Coverage). That equates to around 3.9 billion people who are not receiving the health services they need and roughly one-third of the population of the United States, worldwide, that are pushed into extreme poverty each year due to out-of-pocket health spending.

In the United States alone, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Care Access and Quality) estimates that around 10% of the U.S. population is without health insurance. That means roughly 33.25 million people in the U.S. are uninsured against health issues. Most of these are found in lower-income neighborhoods and consist mainly of immigrants and minority populations.

The fourth and final lesson asks whether healthcare is a right or a luxury and breaches the topic of Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC). Here we weigh the pros and cons of UHC, and the class is encouraged to conclude that healthcare is a fundamental human right and that UHC is not only a good idea but an element required to solve many of the world’s health issues today. By providing UHC, we can address many of the social determinants of health that lead to a myriad of preventable non-communicable diseases, reduce mother and infant mortality in low-income areas, and provide economic stimulus to the economy.

References

Appuhamy, R. (2017). Social Determinants of Health – An Introduction. Let’s Learn Public Health. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PH4JYfF4Ns.

Bloom, D. E., Khoury, A., & Subbaraman, R. (2018). The promise and peril of Universal Health Care. Science, 361(6404). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat9644

Chitty, T. (2017). Can universal health care work? CNBC International. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcny49qibQs.

Human Rights Watch. (2022, January 13). World Report 2022: Rights trends in United States. Retrieved December 8, 2022, from https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/united-states

Jones, C. P., Jones, C. Y., Perry, G. S., Barclay, G., & Jones, C. A. (2009). Addressing the social determinants of children’s Health: A Cliff Analogy. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 20(4A), pp. 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1353/hpu.0.0228

Martin, G. (2017). Universal Health Coverage explained. DCP-3. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlETZ202Ovg.

Sammour, T. (2018). Healthcare: Is It a Right or a Luxury? TEDx Talks. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCVmY1iOJQs.

Study.com. (n.d.). Root Causes of Social Injustice. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://study.com/academy/lesson/root-causes-of-social-injustice.html.

U.S. Department of Commerce. (2022, January 6). U.S. population was estimated at 332,403,650 on Jan. 1, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022, from https://www.commerce.gov/news/blog/2022/01/us-population-estimated-332403650-jan-1-2022#:~:text=As%20our%20nation%20prepares%20to,since%20New%20Year’s%20Day%20202.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Economic stability. Economic Stability – Healthy People 2030. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/economic-stability

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Education Access and Quality. Education Access and Quality – Healthy People 2030. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/education-access-and-quality

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Health Care Access and Quality. Health Care Access and Quality – Healthy People 2030. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/health-care-access-and-quality

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Neighborhood and built environment. Neighborhood and Built Environment – Healthy People 2030. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/neighborhood-and-built-environment

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Social and community context. Social and Community Context – Healthy People 2030. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/social-and-community-context

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Social Determinants of Health. Social Determinants of Health – Healthy People 2030. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://health.gov/healthypeople/priority-areas/social-determinants-health

Urban Institute. (2016). The Picture of Health: – Urban Institute. The Picture of Health. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://apps.urban.org/features/picture-of-health/video.html

Urban Institute. (2018). Dr. Camara Jones Explains the Cliff of Good Health. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to7Yrl50iHI

World Health Organization. (2008). Chapter 3: Causes and solutions. In Closing the gap in a generation: Health equity through action on the Social Determinants of Health (pp. 35–39). essay.

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Universal Health Coverage. Retrieved December 8, 2022, from https://www.who.int/health-topics/universal-health-coverage#tab=tab_1

Assignment Grade: 100/100

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Social Justice Curriculum for Higher Education

Curriculum

Lesson 1: Defining Social Justice

Objectives

Activities

Assigned Readings

Lesson 2: Social Injustice

Objectives

Activities

Media

Assigned Readings

Lesson 3: Social Determinants of Health

Objectives

Activities

Media

Assigned Readings

Optional Readings

Lesson 4: Universal Healthcare

Objectives

Activities

Media

Optional Readings

Instructional Design

Lesson 1: Defining Social Justice

Objectives

What is Social Justice? (20 minutes)

What is Social Injustice? (30 minutes)

Assigned Readings

Lesson 2: Social Injustice

Objectives

Root Causes of Social Injustice (20 minutes)

Witnessing to Social Injustice (30 minutes)

Assigned Readings

Lesson 3: Social Determinants of Health

Objectives:

The Cliff of Good Health (20 minutes)

Assigned Readings

Optional Readings

Lesson 4: Universal Healthcare

Objectives

Healthcare: A Right or a Luxury (30 minutes)

Universal Health Coverage (20 minutes)

Optional Readings

Annotated Bibliography

Metacognition

References

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