Term
Summer 2026
Capstone
Capstone Project
Degree Name
MAT
Facilitator(s)
Jana Lo Bello Miller
Content Expert
Kleber Ortiz
Abstract
This capstone addresses a deficit in social studies curricula which overemphasizes factual recitation of a narrow selection of history. Understanding that ethnic studies is another social studies topic which provides the lacking elements from mainstream history teaching, this project attempts to design an American history unit that is informed by the principles of ethnic studies and culturally relevant pedagogy. The research question being asked is: how can we best design an immigration unit for Minnesota studies or American history that effectively integrates ethnic studies into a mainstream curriculum? To achieve this goal, a unit has been designed that focuses on the personal narratives of the subjects while maintaining the factual, necessary information that characterizes a typical American history class. The unit takes care to include moments of reflection, engagement with specific groups within our actual community, and a variety of lesson plans including reading, lectures, group discussions, media analysis, and interviewing. The unit was created to be specifically used within Minnesota, but is flexible enough to be adapted to any particular community. The end result is a 10 lesson unit that follows the principles of culturally relevant pedagogy, the richness of an ethnic studies class, while still meeting the criteria of state standards and mainstream American history classes.
Project Type
Curriculum
Keywords
Curriculum, Multicultural Education, Social Justice
Recommended Citation
Bory-Baar, Hawkens, "American History and Immigration: Creating a Comprehensive Immigration Unit for an American History Class" (2026). School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects. 1212.
https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_cp/1212
dc_type
text
dc_publisher
DigitalCommons@Hamline
dc_format
application/pdf
dc_source
School of Education Student Capstone Projects