Abstract:
A sound understanding of culture is an important concept for students to acquire in a globalized world. Despite researchers’ interest in how individuals understand culture, little research has focused on high school students’ understanding of culture. In fact, most research exploring high school students understanding of culture has examined the concept using quantitative methods to determine their level of understanding of other cultures. To that end, no study that I have found thus far, has examined the process of the shifting conceptualization that high school students experience from participating in a human geography course. Thus, this study sought to shed light on emic narrative voices of the 10 high school students’ journey with shifting conceptualization of culture from participating in a human geography course.
The purpose of this study was to explore students’ understanding of culture from taking the human geography class. More specifically, the particular interest of this study was to examine the processes and outcomes of shifting conceptualization of culture that 10 high school students experienced from participating in a human geography class. Using a post-intentional phenomenological framework, I followed and applied Vagle’s (2014) five-component process to examine the phenomenon. Qualitative data were collected through expressive writings, focus group interviews, and semi-structured interviews in an attempt to capture students’ voices of their experiences in the human geography class that led to their shifts in their conceptualization of culture. The data were then analyzed using the whole-part-whole process (Vagle, 2014), and examined for tentative manifestations of the phenomenon. Participants verbatim focus group and individual narratives are offered in the findings chapter.
Data analysis revealed four distinct themes or tentative manifestations that were ubiquitous among all of the participants: shifts in conceptualization of culture that lead to deeper, more complex thought than previously experienced, changes in thinking patterns related to culture, shifts in conceptual thinking that led to changes in behavior that resulted in a greater level of tolerance and acceptance of others, and shifts in conceptualization of culture that resulted in that transfer of knowledge and real-life application of culture. These tentative manifestations are discussed in greater detail in the tentative manifestation chapter.
The findings in the study indicated that students developed a greater understanding of culture that became more complex and broader than they initially thought while also experiencing a shift in their thinking patterns related to culture after participating in a human geography class. Further, shifts in their conceptualization of culture led to changes in their behavior that leading to a greater level of tolerance acceptance and open-mindedness about culture, and transfer of knowledge to real-life application of information that would ultimately benefit them in the future. Finally, a discussion of implications and limitations of the study and future research are offered.