UW’s Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Program has been selected for a grant of $149,397 by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
The Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Program plans to use the grant to expand its programs and integrate the humanities into social studies education resources.
The program has created a catalog of free civic and social studies resources for teachers in K-12 schools across Wyoming.
The resources include short faculty presentations from the School of Politics, Public Affairs, and International Studies and other programs on campus, as well as research guides and activities.
“Making sure that we build out learning activities and content in a way that doesn’t just check the box for the standards, but really does fulfill the spirit behind them,” Director of the Trustees Education Initiative Curtis Biggs said.
The topics align with state social studies standards for educators.
Currently, nearly 60 resource packages are available through WyoLearn, a publicly accessible database of learning resources.
Director of the Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Program Jean Garrison said that the online catalog was launched in response to Covid in December of 2020.
“It made us recognize that there was an opportunity to do something with statewide reach, with resources available to all teachers in the state.”
This year, the program is partnering with multiple groups across campus, including the School of Energy resources, to teach content focusing on the energy industry.
The program also focuses on Wyoming culture and follows government standards for teaching about indigenous peoples of Wyoming.
The NEH grant will allow for the expansion of the digital program through three themes: identity, community, and rural life; liberties and civic responsibilities; and culture and people of the West.
Additionally, a new English language arts catalog will serve as another resource for creating an interdisciplinary approach to social studies.
“We’re really looking forward to social studies teachers having an opportunity to partner in an interdisciplinary way with English language teachers and showing how things connect,” Garrison said.
The grant will also help fund professional development workshops for teachers in summer 2022.
Currently, the program is funded through a combination of mainly donors and other grants.
Garrison said the program’s main goal was to increase access to expert faculty and resources for teachers around the state.
“We are working together in a way and trying to build a network of teachers,” Garrison said. “In this case social studies to start a professional network, a learning community, which doesn’t exist.”
“These are resources that are tailored to the standards that they have to teach to, so we make it easy. Our goal is to make it easy and accessible.”
Biggs emphasized the importance of collaboration with partners across campus and Wyoming, including Wyoming’s public-school educators, community colleges, and University faculty.
“Bringing together a body of expert knowledge in the humanities doesn’t always happen- we’re a big state, we are autonomous entities,” Biggs said. “Now it’s just a matter of continuing growth as more educators get involved.”
Both Biggs and Garrison said they have seen positive feedback and support for the program from educators across the state.
“This is exactly what a land grant university does, and I am appreciative of the team I get to work with,” Garrison added.
“Strengthening the teaching and study of humanities, not just in higher ed but also in K-12, I think it better prepares the whole person, no matter which field they’re in,” Biggs said.
