As teachers in the US context, we have spent precious little time considering what it would mean to be prepared and ready for Black children. In such readiness, (re)cognition of the spirit and spirituality of Black people would be central in understanding and preparing for our children and families. This article asks the question: What would it…

This article revisits the thoughts of Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere on decolonizing higher education in Africa. Their critique of colonial higher education centers on the notion that it was designed to promote the economic aspirations of the colonial metropolis, making it socially unjust, culturally irrelevant, and developmentally inapt. For…

The purpose of this ethnographic study was to examine student outcomes of a curriculum designed to address the overlapping aims and practices of music education and multicultural education ideals in a fifth-grade music class. The following questions guided the research: What are the student outcomes as a result of a traditional music curriculum…

Given the clarion call for culturally relevant and sustaining practices, it is often assumed that Black women have a deep well of knowledge about Black history and culture to draw from. However, given that today's Black teachers were mostly educated post-integration, they were rarely afforded accurate representations and cultural knowledge of…

The Higher Education in the Ghanaian Context (HEGC!) study abroad program was created to engage participants in a critical examination of concepts related to power, privilege, and oppression within higher education settings in Ghana and the United States. The course has three components: pre-immersion, immersion, and emersion that are guided by a…

This study explored Ghanaian primary school teachers' values and challenges of integrating cultural games in teaching mathematics. Using an In-depth conversational interview, ten (10) certificated teachers' voices on the values and challenges of integrating games were examined. Thematic data analysis was applied to the qualitative data from the…

This was a study of a short-term service-learning study abroad program to Ghana, West Africa. The research examined 7 participants' attitudes about and behavioral changes in response to study abroad. How the short-term study abroad experience enhanced and broadened the participants' exposure to other cultures was also studied. The purpose of the…

This study presents findings from a case study of 18 second- and 1.5-generation West African immigrants. We draw upon notions of elusive culture and indigenous knowledges to highlight participants' complex cultural identities and respond to anti-immigration discourses through positioning West African immigrant students as assets in American…

These lessons were written by African social studies specialists for U.S. middle school students to stimulate interest in and develop a positive attitude toward Africans and their culture. Each lesson provides objectives, materials, teaching procedures, and is meant to be used as a textbook supplement. To promote understanding of young Africans,…

Because of its exciting use of rhythm and its variety, African music is an excellent musical culture for study. Seventh and eighth grade students, with no prior musical training, learned to play African instruments and dance the Adowa, a traditional dance of the Ashanti people of Ghana. (RM)

This guide presents a three-week unit on the literature of Ghana. It is designed as part of an eleventh grade world literature course. General objectives include having students identify the literature of Africa with the outstanding literature of the world, change negative attitudes about Africa, and provide a broad view of the lifestyles of…

Designed for use in Michigan schools, this K-2 social studies unit examines aspects of African and Black American life. Material is divided into 11 sections. Sections 1 and 2 provide rationale, project overview, and an introduction to the unit. Section 3 outlines the five content and skill goals of the program: to learn the location of Ghana,…

This teaching guide presents objectives, resources, and evaluation criteria for teaching pupils in fourth grade social studies and fine arts classes about Africa, and particularly the Akan ethnic group in Africa. This unit was developed at an interdisciplinary summer workshop for teachers on African culture. The major objective is to help students…

The document presents a unit on Africa and Ghana for seventh grade language arts and eighth grade remedial English classes. It is one of a number of interdisciplinary products developed by a summer workshop for teachers on African curriculum development. The objectives are to help rid students of stereotypes and to make them aware of the diversity…