“Applying Convergence Culture to the Secondary Curriculum“
Khadijah Zeigler: written thesis
Convergence Theory of Culture
“Applying Convergence Culture to the Secondary Curriculum“
Â
My analysis was applying Henry Jenkins’ Convergence Culture theory to the United States secondary education. Secondary education is a transition from childhood to the working world and ranges from 7th grade to 12th grade. I reviewed the global scores and the rank of the United States and found their weaknesses such as prioritization of standardized testing and continuation to higher education. Using convergence culture I was able to propose a new curriculum. This curriculum utilizes interdisciplinary techniques and convergence culture subcategories. These subcategories are affective economics, participatory culture, and collective intelligence. By combining these aspects I was able to provide a framework that expands individual interests and exploration while increasing the depth of coverage. Depth of coverage allows for a vertical approach to education which would allow for education to be built upon instead of widening horizontally which would continue to dilute the quality of education. This new curriculum involved recreating the standard student schedule by focusing on the time allocated to certain subjects. A standard school year is broken down into four terms with each term covering a unit that relates and builds upon the previous unit. An example would be using Algebra as a foundational course and allocating each term as such; Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, Algebra II, then Advanced Algebra or Introduction to Geometry. What this would look like is a student choosing their own electives and types of courses based on their grade level, which can be indicated by the Roman Numerals (I-VI), and is tested at the end of each term with two major projects/reports due at the end of each semester (replacing midterms and finals).