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Research

Department of Curriculum and Instruction faculty are at the forefront of education innovation. Bolstered by the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, we are leading an evolution in domestic and global curriculum development, virtual and digital learning techniques, literacy across languages, and educational practice within disciplines. Our students work hand-in-hand with faculty to deepen our understanding of the learning process, and to develop and disseminate new knowledge.

Areas of Research

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Curriculum and Global Studies

The Curriculum and Global Studies area offers a focus on the nature of curriculum as well as the global context and transnational aspects of curriculum and instruction. Faculty in this area do this work using historical, sociological, philosophical, critical, and postmodern methods and perspectives. The affinity of these two areas derives from the international nature of the work of the faculty in this area. The emphasis on global studies, in addition, reflects the high number of international scholars and students who are drawn to the work being done here at UW–Madison.

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Design, Informal, and Creative Education (DICE)

This area represents the latest thinking about communicating and representing ideas via new technologies. What was once our Educational Computing and Technology area (with a segment devoted to gaming) will become a more cutting-edge and forward-looking area that links technology across our various categories and integrates more seamlessly with other departmental programs. This category will help us draw on new developments in visual culture, methodological innovations, social networking, and virtual teaching and learning.

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Disciplinary Studies

The Disciplinary Studies area consists of four subareas focused on important areas of study that are commonly represented as school subjects across K12 education. Research in these disciplinary subfields includes studies of student learning, teaching, curriculum, policy, and institutional context. Faculty pursue work on these topics in both formal and informal settings, drawing on a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods, which include historical and philosophical approaches.

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Languages and Literacies

The Languages and Literacies area is an umbrella for a wide range of topics of study including reading, elementary literacy, secondary English, English as a second language/bilingual education, global literacies and communications, and world languages. Faculty in this area explore what it means to communicate within and across complex social and cultural worlds in fo​rmal educational settings as well as in informal and everyday environments.

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Multicultural Education, Teacher Education, and Early Childhood Education

The Multicultural Education, Teacher Education, and Early Childhood Education area explores issues of diversity and equity in schooling, professional preparation of teachers, and the lives of children. Faculty in this area explore teaching in formal and informal settings, through care and education and utilizing an array of theoretical tools including multicultural education, culturally relevant pedagogy, critical race theory, and narrative.

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Additional Opportunities

Visiting Scholars Program

The Visiting Scholars Program offers an opportunity to support the advancement of your research and scholarship and/or to enable collaborative research and planning with department faculty.

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Curriculum and Instruction Colloquium Series

Get details about upcoming colloquium events, as well as an archive of past events and presentation materials.

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