Merry Merryfield, Ed.D.
Professor
Contact Info:
Mailing Address:
- 333 Arps Hall
- 1945 N. High St.
- Columbus, OH 43210-1172 USA
Biographical Information:
Dr. Merryfield began her career as a teacher of social studies and Latin in Atlanta during the early 1970s. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone in West Africa from 1977-79, then worked as an evaluation specialist for Peace Corps in Washington DC. Her doctoral work at Indiana University focused on social studies, African Studies and educational inquiry. She worked at the Social Studies Development Center in evaluating global education projects, and she was the outreach coordinator for the Center for African Studies. She was awarded a Fulbright Dissertation Fellowship for her study that looked at the role of social studies in the national development of Nigeria, Kenya and Malawi. She spent 18 months collecting data in schools in those countries. She worked for USAID in Botswana following her graduation and came to Ohio State in 1988 when the new global education program began.
Since 1991, Dr. Merryfield has worked with 12 teachers in six districts to develop the Professional Development School Network in Social Studies and Global Education. Each year 8-9 master teachers, called field professors, team teach two methods courses with social studies profs and mentor interns out in their schools. This collaborative program has led to many presentations at national and state conferences and a number of publications. See http://people.ehe.ohio-state.edu/ssge/pds-network/ for more information.
Her research is described below. Since 1997 she has been teaching some courses totally online.
Courses
- T&L 638/639 Social Studies Methods
- T&L 807 Teaching About Africa and African Perspectives
- T&L 808 Research in Multicultural and Global Education
- T&L 878 Infusing Global Perspectives in Education
- T&L 881 Multicultural Education
- T&L 883d Teaching World Cultures and Global Issues
- T&L 925.28 Cross-Cultural Experiential Education
Both 881 and 883d are taught online.
Education
- EdD, 1986, Indiana University in Social Studies Education, African Studies, and Educational Inquiry.
- MEd, 1974, Georgia State University, with high honors in Geographic Education.
- BA, 1971, Georgia State University, with honors, History and Education.
Professional experiences
- Professor at Ohio State, 1988-present.
- Materials Development Specialist, USAID Botswana, 1987-1988.
- Co-Director, Strengthening Social Studies Education in Africa Program, Indiana University, 1987.
- Research Associate, Center for Social Research, University of Malawi, Zomba, Malawi, 1985.
- Research Associate, Bureau of Educational Research, Kenyatta University College, Nairobi, Kenya and The African Social Studies Program, Nairobi, Kenya. 1985.
- Outreach Director, African Studies Program, Indiana University 1981-1984.
- Research Associate, The Social Studies Development Center, Indiana University, 1981 - 1984.
- Evaluation Specialist, Peace Corps, Washington, D.C. 1980-1981.
- Education Specialist and Peace Corps Volunteer, Sierra Leone. 1977-1979.
- Researcher and trainer, CARE, Sierra Leone and Liberia 1978 and 1979.
- Classroom teacher, Fulton County Schools, Atlanta, Georgia. 1974-1977.
- Classroom teacher, Clayton County Schools, Atlanta, Georgia.. 1971-1974.
Research Biography
My research is centered on global perspectives in K-12 and teacher education. In the past I have studied K-12 practice and how teachers make instructional decisions as they teach about the world and its peoples. I've also documented the status of teacher education in global education and studied teacher educators who intentionally make connections between multicultural education and global education. This line of inquiry has taken me into studies of lived experiences of globally-oriented teacher educators and cross-cultural experiential education in teacher education.
My most recent new line of inquiry developed in Hong Kong in 2005 where I collaborated with Professor Joe Lo at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. We looked at how Chinese teachers are teaching about the world seven years after the return to Chinese rule.
I also have a line of research on the role of social studies in national development in Anglophone Africa. I've carried out studies in Nigeria, Kenya, Malawi, and Botswana (I also taught in Sierra Leone as a Peace Corps volunteer '77-'79 and worked briefly in Liberia). Some of my work is cross-national and in other studies I have developed individual case studies of practice or educational reform that are focused on one country or even one school or teacher.
Since the late 1990s I have been writing about the use of electronic technology in teacher education in social studies and global education. I've been studying how electronic discussion, particularly threaded discussion, can be used to support diversity and equity in graduate classes. I'm finding that threaded discussion, compared with face to face discussion in class on campus, brings about more equitable pedagogy for teachers whose first language is not English and teachers whose views or experiences are not shared by the majority of people enrolled in the class. I also am studying how cross-cultural experiential learning takes place online.
Currently I am involved in the second year of a study of how schools prepare students to be citizens of the world.
I'm very interested in post-colonial theory, the challenges of decolonizing the mind and looking more directly at the relationships between culture, imperialism, and education.
Activities and Honors
- National Technology Leadership Initiative Fellow Award, presented by the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education. Awarded for published research on online cross-cultural learning, 2004.
- Program winner, national award for Best Practice in Teacher Education in Global and International Education, presented by the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, 2002.
- Faculty Teaching Award for Innovative and Outstanding Teaching, presented by The Ohio State University College of Education and the School of Teaching and Learning, 1999.
- Outstanding International Scholar Award, presented by Phi Beta Delta, 1994.
Selected Grants
- Preparing Teachers to Teach Global Perspectives Through Cross-Cultural Learning and Access to Primary Resources and New Scholarship, Year III. The Longview Foundation. 2002-2005. Funded at $65,000.
- Connecting Teachers to New Scholarship and Primary Sources About a Changing World. Proposal submitted to Batelle's BETHA grants in October, 2002. Funded by Batelle for $37,000. 2003-2005.
- Teacher Education in a Global Age: Integrating Diversity, Equity and Interconnectedness through Multicultural and Global Education. The Mershon Center. Merryfield was director. Funded at $25,000, July 1995 - June 1996.
- Training Preservice Social Studies Teachers in International Conflict Resolution. 1992-1994. The United States Institute of Peace. Merryfield was the PI with Richard Remy as Co-Director. Funded at $75,000.
- Co-Director of Strengthening Social Studies Education in Africa, United States Information Agency, 1987, $221,000.
Selected Publications
See all publications at http://people.ehe.ohio-state.edu/mmerryfield/papers-and-publications/
- The web and teachers' decision-making in global education. (2007). Theory and Research in Social Education 35(2), 256-275.
- Teaching about the world: Two case studies. (2006) Research in Comparative and international Education, 1(3), 286-300. Co-author with Joe Lo and Sum Po.
- Electronic discourse, school/university collaboration and democratic spaces in teacher education. (2006). International Journal of Social Education 21 (no.1), 73-94.
- The press and global education (2005). In Margaret Crocco (Ed.). Social Studies and The Press. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
- Social Studies and the World: Teaching Global Perspectives (2005). Washington D.C.: The National Council for the Social Studies. Co-author with Angene Wilson.
- Engaging Elementary Students in Substantive Culture Learning. (2004). Social Education 68 (4), 270-273.
- Like a Veil: Cross-Cultural Experiential Learning Online (2003). Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education.[Online serial], 3(2). Available at http://www.citejournal.org/vol3/iss2/socialstudies/article1.cfm
- Moving the Center of Global Education: From Imperial World Views that Divide the World to Double Consciousness, Contrapuntal Pedagogy, Hybridity, and Cross-Cultural Competence. (2001). In William B. Stanley (Ed.), Critical Issues in Social Studies Research for the 21st Century. Greenwich, CN: Information Age Publishing. pp.179-208.
- Why Aren't Teachers Being Prepared to Teach for Diversity, Equity, and Global Interconnectedness? A Study of Lived Experiences in the Making of Multicultural and Global Educators. (2000). Teaching and Teacher Education 16 (4), 429-443.
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