John H Bickford
Biographic Data
| ID | 6346803 |
|---|---|
| NAME | John H Bickford |
| GIVEN NAMES | John H |
| FAMILY NAME | Bickford |
| SIGNATURE | BICKFORD J H |
| AFFILIATIONS | Eastern Illinois University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3629-2522 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 18 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Positioning Middle Level Learners to Engage with Contemporary U.S. Voter Laws
Situating Students to Utilize Political Thinking When Encountering Subtle Racist Rhetoric
Examining Biology Curricular Resources’ Scientific Depictions of Evolution, Race, Sexuality, and Identity
Second-Graders’ Historical Reading, Thinking, and Writing About Rosa Parks
Second-graders engaged in complex reading, writing, and thinking about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Close readings of secondary and primary sources situated students to discover incongruencies between what is reported within trade-books and what is revealed within historical documents. Scaffolding directed students' scrutiny of secondary sources for historical gaps and of primary sources for historical significance. The scaffolding …
Activities to Engage Students in the "Authentic" Work as U.S. Senators About Voting Rights Issues
In this article, we utilize resources mainly provided by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate along with other primary and secondary sources to discuss a unit plan for students to research voting rights issues in modern American society. First, a brief historical overview of voting rights issues in the United States is given. Next, our focus shifts to give a short literature review on the importance of teaching public issu…
Examining How Revision Impacts Students’ Evidentiary and Narrative Writing
Seventh-grade students engaged in a guided historical inquiry about slavery, freedom, and unfreedom. The teacher carefully intertwined historical content, close reading, critical thinking, and text-based writing—both extemporaneous and refined—during Social Studies. Students scrutinized primary sources to build their historical schemas over the course of a week. They then engaged in the writing process during a week-long assessment. Students form…
Fourth Graders’ Guided Inquiry into Local Public Issues of Birmingham
In this manuscript, the authors discuss a seven-day research project that occurred within the Birmingham metropolitan area where fourth graders researched the role that public issues played in the creation of two suburban school systems in their city. We coded student work samples to look for themes. Emergent themes from student work samples are described in the findings section. We conclude in our discussion section with some recommendations for…
Examining Charles Darwin’s (Mis)representation within science and history curricula
Teaching and learning are grounded on age-appropriate, credible curricular resources, which can be formal (i.e. textbooks) and informal (i.e. trade-books). As Charles Darwin’s ideas galvanized biology and racism, this study examined his historical representation within trade-books (e.g. biography, narrative non-fiction, expository, etc.), textbooks (student editions, teacher editions, etc.), and curricular supplements (teacher-facing assessments …
Directing and Differentiating First-Graders’ Historical Reading, Thinking, and Writing about Abraham Lincoln
First-grader students engaged in a guided historical inquiry about Abraham Lincoln. The teacher carefully intertwined historical content, close reading, critical thinking, and text-based writing during Reading, Writing, and Social Studies classes. Students scrutinized secondary sources, which were largely biographies of Lincoln, to build their historical schemas. The first-graders analyzed primary sources—which were intentionally selected to miti…
Positioning Students to Experience Poverty and Consider Its Implications
This study examined students’ encounters with and responses to poverty-based experiential learning during an undergraduate sociology class. Students’ academic readings and experiencing real-life context were channeled through reflective analysis of public policy’s implications. Students’ writing, which had reflective and diagnostic elements, was scrutinized using qualitative content analysis methods by two trained researchers. Findings revealed d…
Nothing about Us without Us
Students, especially young children, recognize differences. This guided inquiry positions elementary students to consider the (dis)abilities they see and do not see. This article couples trade books emphasizing diverse perspectives—general, American, people of color, international contexts, fiction, and disparate (dis)abilities—with evocative primary sources—telegrams, letters, photographs, bumper stickers, and buttons—highlighting advocacy for e…
A Guided Inquiry Into America’s White Hegemony, Yesterday’s Terror and Today’s Horror
Teachers value students’ close reading of and text-based writing about diverse texts while eliciting their awareness of the world, privilege, and power. Carefully selected literature coupled with primary sources can bridge the classroom and society. To engage modern students in America’s racialized past and present, this article guides teachers to intertwine villains and heroes, real and imagined, past and present. During an intradisciplinary uni…
The Constitution, Jefferson’s War on Pirates, and Trump’s Strikes on Suleimani 1
This article is a guided inquiry into past and present uses of war powers. From the Constitutional framers’ intent through Thomas Jefferson’s adaptation to modern presidents’ implementation, students extract meaning from the best available evidence. Evocative primary sources—some of which are contemporaneous to modern readers—and engaging secondary sources ground the inquiry. Discipline-specific scaffolding directs students to assemble a reasoned…
A Guided History into Racist Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Policy
The field of education in America—oft-viewed as a catalyst for change and self-improvement—has a racist history, which is often undiscussed by teachers and likely unknown to students. This article guides high school students to explore how educational texts, tasks, and policies have been products and producers of racist ideas in the past and today. Examining racism in U.S. schooling situates students to better detect the figurative fingerprints o…
First Graders’ Inquiry Into the Myths and History of Colonists and Wampanoags at Plimoth
First graders engaged in an extended historical inquiry. Close readings of secondary and primary sources evoked rich class discussion. Scaffolding directed students’ scrutiny of secondary sources for historical gaps; they ably detected source and intent within the primary sources. Students articulated newly constructed understandings through diverse forms of text-based writing. Students’ verbal contributions were far more robust than written comm…
Civic Action, Historical Agency, and Grassroots Advocacy
In this article, the authors discuss how to explore the agency of ordinary citizens using local institutions to combat Jim Crow segregation laws during Freedom Summer. Primary sources from Miami (OH) University website about Freedom Summer and Susan Goldman Rubin's trade book ground the inquiry. Through the series of activities discussed, middle school students utilize the steps of the Inquiry Arc in the C3 Framework to analyze primary and second…
An Inquiry into Liberty, Slavery, and Thomas Jefferson’s Place in American Memory
This article presents a guided inquiry into Thomas Jefferson’s place in American memory. It centers on Jefferson’s liberty-based articulations and his involvement in slavery, which are paradoxical when juxtaposed. Evocative primary sources and competing secondary sources ground the inquiry. Discipline-specific strategies direct students through the stages of inquiry. Close reading, text-based writing, and informed action intertwine with history l…
Confronting Misrepresentative Political Messages
Over the last couple of years, White nationalist groups have been at the forefront of American political life, especially with the events in Charlottesville, Virginia. The historical roots of White nationalist movements run deep in the United States and are most closely associated with the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). In this article the authors explore the history of the KKK outside of the South and how this oft-neglected history gets at elements of inte…
A Guided History into Racist Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Policy
The field of education in America—oft-viewed as a catalyst for change and self-improvement—has a racist history, which is often undiscussed by teachers and likely unknown to students. This article guides high school students to explore how educational texts, tasks, and policies have been products and producers of racist ideas in the past and today. Examining racism in U.S. schooling situates students to better detect the figurative fingerprints o…
First Graders’ Inquiry Into the Myths and History of Colonists and Wampanoags at Plimoth
First graders engaged in an extended historical inquiry. Close readings of secondary and primary sources evoked rich class discussion. Scaffolding directed students’ scrutiny of secondary sources for historical gaps; they ably detected source and intent within the primary sources. Students articulated newly constructed understandings through diverse forms of text-based writing. Students’ verbal contributions were far more robust than written comm…
Civic Action, Historical Agency, and Grassroots Advocacy
In this article, the authors discuss how to explore the agency of ordinary citizens using local institutions to combat Jim Crow segregation laws during Freedom Summer. Primary sources from Miami (OH) University website about Freedom Summer and Susan Goldman Rubin's trade book ground the inquiry. Through the series of activities discussed, middle school students utilize the steps of the Inquiry Arc in the C3 Framework to analyze primary and second…
Confronting Misrepresentative Political Messages
Over the last couple of years, White nationalist groups have been at the forefront of American political life, especially with the events in Charlottesville, Virginia. The historical roots of White nationalist movements run deep in the United States and are most closely associated with the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). In this article the authors explore the history of the KKK outside of the South and how this oft-neglected history gets at elements of inte…
Civic Action, Historical Agency, and Grassroots Advocacy
In this article, the authors discuss how to explore the agency of ordinary citizens using local institutions to combat Jim Crow segregation laws during Freedom Summer. Primary sources from Miami (OH) University website about Freedom Summer and Susan Goldman Rubin's trade book ground the inquiry. Through the series of activities discussed, middle school students utilize the steps of the Inquiry Arc in the C3 Framework to analyze primary and second…
An Inquiry into Liberty, Slavery, and Thomas Jefferson’s Place in American Memory
This article presents a guided inquiry into Thomas Jefferson’s place in American memory. It centers on Jefferson’s liberty-based articulations and his involvement in slavery, which are paradoxical when juxtaposed. Evocative primary sources and competing secondary sources ground the inquiry. Discipline-specific strategies direct students through the stages of inquiry. Close reading, text-based writing, and informed action intertwine with history l…
First Graders’ Inquiry Into the Myths and History of Colonists and Wampanoags at Plimoth
First graders engaged in an extended historical inquiry. Close readings of secondary and primary sources evoked rich class discussion. Scaffolding directed students’ scrutiny of secondary sources for historical gaps; they ably detected source and intent within the primary sources. Students articulated newly constructed understandings through diverse forms of text-based writing. Students’ verbal contributions were far more robust than written comm…
Nothing about Us without Us
Students, especially young children, recognize differences. This guided inquiry positions elementary students to consider the (dis)abilities they see and do not see. This article couples trade books emphasizing diverse perspectives—general, American, people of color, international contexts, fiction, and disparate (dis)abilities—with evocative primary sources—telegrams, letters, photographs, bumper stickers, and buttons—highlighting advocacy for e…
A Guided Inquiry Into America’s White Hegemony, Yesterday’s Terror and Today’s Horror
Teachers value students’ close reading of and text-based writing about diverse texts while eliciting their awareness of the world, privilege, and power. Carefully selected literature coupled with primary sources can bridge the classroom and society. To engage modern students in America’s racialized past and present, this article guides teachers to intertwine villains and heroes, real and imagined, past and present. During an intradisciplinary uni…
The Constitution, Jefferson’s War on Pirates, and Trump’s Strikes on Suleimani 1
This article is a guided inquiry into past and present uses of war powers. From the Constitutional framers’ intent through Thomas Jefferson’s adaptation to modern presidents’ implementation, students extract meaning from the best available evidence. Evocative primary sources—some of which are contemporaneous to modern readers—and engaging secondary sources ground the inquiry. Discipline-specific scaffolding directs students to assemble a reasoned…
A Guided History into Racist Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Policy
The field of education in America—oft-viewed as a catalyst for change and self-improvement—has a racist history, which is often undiscussed by teachers and likely unknown to students. This article guides high school students to explore how educational texts, tasks, and policies have been products and producers of racist ideas in the past and today. Examining racism in U.S. schooling situates students to better detect the figurative fingerprints o…
Directing and Differentiating First-Graders’ Historical Reading, Thinking, and Writing about Abraham Lincoln
First-grader students engaged in a guided historical inquiry about Abraham Lincoln. The teacher carefully intertwined historical content, close reading, critical thinking, and text-based writing during Reading, Writing, and Social Studies classes. Students scrutinized secondary sources, which were largely biographies of Lincoln, to build their historical schemas. The first-graders analyzed primary sources—which were intentionally selected to miti…
Positioning Students to Experience Poverty and Consider Its Implications
This study examined students’ encounters with and responses to poverty-based experiential learning during an undergraduate sociology class. Students’ academic readings and experiencing real-life context were channeled through reflective analysis of public policy’s implications. Students’ writing, which had reflective and diagnostic elements, was scrutinized using qualitative content analysis methods by two trained researchers. Findings revealed d…
Examining Charles Darwin’s (Mis)representation within science and history curricula
Teaching and learning are grounded on age-appropriate, credible curricular resources, which can be formal (i.e. textbooks) and informal (i.e. trade-books). As Charles Darwin’s ideas galvanized biology and racism, this study examined his historical representation within trade-books (e.g. biography, narrative non-fiction, expository, etc.), textbooks (student editions, teacher editions, etc.), and curricular supplements (teacher-facing assessments …
Examining Biology Curricular Resources’ Scientific Depictions of Evolution, Race, Sexuality, and Identity
Second-Graders’ Historical Reading, Thinking, and Writing About Rosa Parks
Second-graders engaged in complex reading, writing, and thinking about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Close readings of secondary and primary sources situated students to discover incongruencies between what is reported within trade-books and what is revealed within historical documents. Scaffolding directed students' scrutiny of secondary sources for historical gaps and of primary sources for historical significance. The scaffolding …
Activities to Engage Students in the "Authentic" Work as U.S. Senators About Voting Rights Issues
In this article, we utilize resources mainly provided by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate along with other primary and secondary sources to discuss a unit plan for students to research voting rights issues in modern American society. First, a brief historical overview of voting rights issues in the United States is given. Next, our focus shifts to give a short literature review on the importance of teaching public issu…
Examining How Revision Impacts Students’ Evidentiary and Narrative Writing
Seventh-grade students engaged in a guided historical inquiry about slavery, freedom, and unfreedom. The teacher carefully intertwined historical content, close reading, critical thinking, and text-based writing—both extemporaneous and refined—during Social Studies. Students scrutinized primary sources to build their historical schemas over the course of a week. They then engaged in the writing process during a week-long assessment. Students form…
Fourth Graders’ Guided Inquiry into Local Public Issues of Birmingham
In this manuscript, the authors discuss a seven-day research project that occurred within the Birmingham metropolitan area where fourth graders researched the role that public issues played in the creation of two suburban school systems in their city. We coded student work samples to look for themes. Emergent themes from student work samples are described in the findings section. We conclude in our discussion section with some recommendations for…
Positioning Middle Level Learners to Engage with Contemporary U.S. Voter Laws
Situating Students to Utilize Political Thinking When Encountering Subtle Racist Rhetoric
Pedagogy (14 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy (12 works) · Political science (12 works) · Law (11 works) · Social studies (11 works) · Innovative Teaching Methodologies in Social Sciences (10 works) · Mathematics education (10 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Law (9 works)