Action research: Exploring the role of curriculum in preparing students to be
efficient members of society

Salma Ali
Texas A&M University

Abstract:
This study explores the role of the

secondary curriculum entitled, “Ethical
Pathways to Human Development”, in
which students were engaged in this module
with the issues of society by examining the
impact of poverty, illness, illiteracy,
homelessness and social injustice on
communities across the world, and in Dubai.
The study concludes that this curriculum
encourages students to analyze their own
contemporary situations and to reflect on the
social and ethical challenges of an
increasingly plural world.

Introduction to curriculum
As a teacher and educator, I observe

that most students were unable to apply their
classroom knowledge outside the classroom
to the larger society. To me, application of
knowledge is crucial to enable students to
create meaningful learning environment
(Holbrook & Rannikmäe, 2010), and this
research study explores the role of the
curriculum entitled “Ethical Pathways to
Human Development” in creating a
meaningful environment in which students
learn about the societal issues. The Institute
of Education (IOE), located at the heart of
London is one of the world’s leading centers
for education research and development.
The Institute’s collaboration with the
Institute of Ismaili Studies builds on more
than 40 years of successful joint provision of
curriculum development and teacher
development programs. The Institute of
Education, University of London and
Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) in London
developed a Secondary Curriculum “Ethical
Pathways to Human Development” to foster

in students an understanding of problems in
society by examining the impact of poverty,
illness, and other issues in communities
across the world. The curriculum addresses
“human issues that are of critical
significance to individuals, communities and
societies” (Ethical Pathways to Human
Development 2004, 8). A contextual
approach is adopted to issues of
development, and their impact on the quality
of life of people in different regions.

The major part of the curriculum is
devoted to exploring and examining major
world issues and the role of NGO’s and
other institutions through case studies of
innovative approaches to development in
selected parts of the world. The entire
Ethical Pathways curriculum consists of six
units and each unit discusses the major
issues and challenges of one selected region.
In addition, it evaluates the role of the
institutions in that region that work on those
issues. The curriculum focuses on major
global issues and challenges including
poverty, illness, homelessness, race and
social justice, cybercrime, bullying,
application of technology, and unequal
distribution of world’s resources. The
overall key message of this curriculum is to
encourage students to take responsibility for
improving the quality of their own lives, at
the same time not neglecting their
responsibility towards their fellow human
beings.

Theoretical framework
The organization of schooling has

long been associated with the idea of a
curriculum. Researchers have grappled
with questions like of which include: what
is a curriculum? And, how might it be



2

conceptualized? Kelly (2009) criticizes
curriculum merely as a product and states



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that curriculum is to be thought in
terms of activity and experiences which
continue to develop and respond
appropriately to the changes in society and
educational processes. This notion of
examining broadening of curriculum is also
seen by Brookfield (1990)

curricula is not studied in some kind
of artificial isolation, but that ideas,
skills, and insights learned in a
classroom are experienced in real life.
Essential to praxis is the opportunity
to reflect on experience, so that
formal study is informed by some
appreciation of reality. (50)

Dewey (1937) explains that curriculum
serves a broader social purpose, which helps
pupils become more effective members of
society. It does not simply instruct young
people about what is true or false, but
curriculum enables the learner to inquire
how is this experience related to other things
they know? How can this learning be
utilized in a new setting? and how will the
knowledge affect other people? What clearly
emerges from the discourse above is the
notion that curriculum is not just simply the
material that the teachers and students use in
the classroom, rather it also involves the
processes where the experience of the
learner and the teacher through dialogue and
pedagogies recognizes the relevance of the
subject matter that is to be taught and
learned in an educational and real world
setting.

Harrison, Blakemore, and Buck
(2001) stated that the curriculum should
reflect the society and should discuss the
surroundings where we live. I agree with

Harrison, Blakemore, and Buck (2002) that
curriculum should contain features of
producing awareness in students about the
main issues of the society and of their role
to fight with these issues. In order to
explain the relationship of curriculum with
students and society, Harrison, Blakemore,
and Buck (2001) introduced a model,
diagram of which is given below, about
curriculum development stages. This model
tells about the goals of educational
curriculum, which includes producing
interest in students to serve their society
well. However, this depends also on
schools and teachers to implement the
curriculum in the educational institutes.
After studying Ethical Pathways
curriculum, and comparing the goals of the
Ethical Pathways curriculum to the details
of Harrison’s model, Ethical Pathways
seems follows the Harrison’s (2001) model
in which students learn about the societal
issues, and develop a sense of
responsibility. Therefore, this study
explores whether or not (a) this curriculum
engaged students in dialogues,
collaborative inquiry, and continuous
reflection on worldwide issues that helped
students develop a sense of responsibility.
Whether or not (b), after gaining
knowledge and understanding of major
global issues, Ethical Pathways curriculum
inspires human empathy and sympathy in
students for motivating them to play their
role to minimize those issues.

The diagram of a model is given
below shows the relationship between
curriculum and society. It gives a link where
students use their school-based knowledge
outside the classroom.



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(Harrison, Blakemore, and Buck 2001, 109)

Method and Methodology

Qualitative Research

In order to understand the situation in its
natural setting, I chose the qualitative
research method, Rossman and Rallis (1998,
39) state, “Qualitative research is done in the
natural setting and the researcher’s purpose
is to learn about some aspects of the social
world and to generate new understanding”.
In the research, all activities, observations
and interviews were conducted in a real
classroom setting and focus was on the
process of students’ learning. Therefore,
primarily concerned of this qualitative
research was to focus on the process rather
than outcomes (Creswell 1994).

Action Research
The nature of the research calls for

an action based approach due to its main
focus on developing theoretical
understanding, and develop a sense of
responsibility (Denscombe 1998). Carr and
Kemmis (1986) define action research as “a
form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken

by participant in social situation, in order to
improve the rationality and justice of their
own social and educational practices” (162).

Accordingly, during the research,
students were given the opportunity to
improve their understanding of world major
issues by thinking rationally and engaging in
reflective dialogue and collaborative inquiry.
In this process, I was confronted with new
issues, challenges and opportunities to
explore the curriculum. Action research
allowed me to engage in an ongoing cycle of
systematic planning, acting, observing and
reflecting (Carr and Kemmis 1986).
Denscombe (2002) explains that use of
findings and an assessment of the impact on
teaching and learning must be a part of cycle
of study in the action research process. I
found action research gives the findings
which generate some possibilities for change
and then practitioner can apply and evaluate
them for further inquiries or investigations
(Denscombe 2002, 58) to enhance students
learning.



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For this study, I taught 2 classes a week
for 8 weeks: each class lasted for one hour.
So I taught sixteen classes (16 hours of
instruction) in total. During this study, I
taught three units of Ethical Pathways
curriculum. In the first unit “Our world our
challenges” contains pictures with
descriptions, and video links that helped the
students to explore some of the major issues
that are facing the majority of people in the
world such as gender equality, poverty, war
and conflicts, security issues, climate
changes and global warming issues. Then I
taught Unit 2 “understanding the issues', in
which students read some case studies that
focus on the root causes of these issues, and
then students discuss some possible
solutions of them. Finally, in Unit 3 “Our
surroundings”, students explore some of the
local major issues that our country or
communities are facing. students reflect on
their own role in causing those issues, and
what can we do to minimize these issues.
Overall, students spent eight classes on
exploring Unit 1 & 2 in total to have an
understanding of world major issues, and
another six weeks to explore Unit 3 to have
an understanding of the local issues.

Research context and participants
In Dubai, the majority of the schools

follow the reception learning model. In
reception learning students are dependent on
a teacher for their learning. Teachers control
the classroom and students are trained to
acquire knowledge rather than to think and
build knowledge from their own or through
peers’ experience. A similar reception
learning model is in practice at the Dubai
Latifa High school in which this study was
conducted. The teaching methods in this
high school is predominantly lecture-based
in which much of the knowledge
dissemination is done by teachers. Dubai
Latifa High school’s grand campus, in the
Grecian architectural design, is located on
the perimeter of one of the wealthiest
neighborhoods in Dubai. The racial, and
cultural mix of youth attend this high school

including citizens, immigrants, and the
residents of Dubai. Dubai is the place where
just 20% of the residents are citizens and
80% of the population consists of foreigners.
Out of those 80%, more than 50% are from
South Asian countries as a worker or
immigrants, and they always struggle to
maintain their visas.

Within this context, I pursued this
research study to deepen my understanding
about the role of the issue-based Ethical
Pathways curriculum. For this study, the
local and immigrant students between 15 to
16 years from Grades 9 or 10 enrolled as
participants, who had been living in Dubai
for at least one year, without any other prior
requirement. Among those participants,
there were eight girls and seven boys in the
Grade 9 while six girls and seven boys were
in Grade 10. These students attended
classes for 8 weeks (2 days a week); each
day I taught a one hour lesson and in this
way students received 16 hours of
instruction (16 classes) in total. In addition,
three girls, and three boys mix-cultural local
or immigrant students were recruited for the
focus group, without any other prior
requirement. I made sure that all of the
participants had been living in Dubai at least
for one year, in order to know their
understanding about the local issues.

Data collection Methods
A variety of information was

collected through these methods below
thereby highlighting different perspectives.

● Questionnaire (Pre & Post)
● Focus group interviews
● Teacher’s reflective journals

Questionnaires

The Questionnaire method is easier to
arrange and organize the data as compared
to other forms of collecting data (Derry
1990). Therefore, I used one as a key
method for data collection. The
questionnaire, a 4 items open response form
(See Appendix A), was devised and



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administered to students prior to the Ethical
Pathways curriculum teaching. I conducted
two questionnaires, in the beginning as pre-
questionnaire, and end of this study as post-
questionnaire. All student participants
completed the two questionnaires. .I spent
the first class session (one hour) collecting
students’ prior knowledge about world
major issues, then I spent the next seven
classes teaching the Ethical Pathways
curriculum. Then, I spent another seven
classes to explore local (Dubai) issues, and
finally the last class was used to get post
questionnaires, and post focused groups
interviews.

Pre-Questionnaire: The pre-course
questionnaire of four questions, was used in
the first class to create a baseline of
students’ perception towards their
understanding about the global issues of the
society in which they live, and to know the
sense of responsibility they feel.

Post – Questionnaires: In the last class
session, I administered a post-test
questionnaire to the students consisting of
the same questions that students answered
on the pre- course questionnaire. By doing
this, I was able to gain insight into the effect
of the intervention on students’ learning.

Focus group interview
According to Cohen, Manion, Morrison, and
Morrison, (2007) a focus-group is designed
where the topic of discussion focuses on issues
of relevance that are to be evaluated. The focus
group interview was conducted with students
where open ended questions were asked about a
specific topic (Robson 2011). Eight student
participants, 4 students from 9th and 4 students
from 10th grades were selected for the focus
group. A purpose of the focus groups to have
detailed responses about their understanding of
world global issues. (Denscombe 2002). Each
focus group lasted an hour, during which
students responded to my open ended questions
and had conversations with each other. I audio
recorded their responses, conversations and
later transcribed them.

The discussion was specifically
undertaken in a conducive environment in
which students were asked to freely share
their thoughts and opinions (Hopkins 2008).
This focus-group discussion allowed me to
see how change in pedagogy influenced the
learning outcomes for the students. As I
mentioned that the focus-group discussion
was held two times during the research with
the same students. The data from the first
focus-group discussion informed my further
practices. I observed how they know about
societal issues and how they were feeling
about societal issues. The post focus groups
interviewed from the same students showed
me how the students shifted in their learning
of the core themes of the Ethical Pathways
curriculum during this study. Also, their
conversation with each other helped me to
understand their willingness to play their
roles in minimizing the global issues after
studying the EDM curriculum (Laws,
Harper, Jones, & Marcus, 2013).

Teachers’ Reflective Journal
As Brockbank and McGill (2007)

suggest, to facilitate students learning,
teachers must themselves engage as
reflective practitioners, the journal helped
me critically examine how the learning
environment and strategies motivate
students to actively engage in the learning
process. This journal helped me reflect on
classroom teaching and allowed me to
revisit the lesson and teaching strategies
according to students' understanding and
reflection. Throughout the research, I used a
four column reflective journal, suggested by
Moore (2006), and wrote my reflections
after every class.

Findings and Analysis
Findings are based on my analysis of

the data obtained via questionnaire, focus
group interview, teacher’s reflective diary,
and observations. After my analysis of the
responses, the findings were clustered into
these three areas of reporting.



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● Students’ prior knowledge about the
major global issues

● Students’ understanding of global issues
through Ethical Pathways Curriculum

● Students’ understanding of some of the
local (Dubai) issues through Ethical
Pathways Curriculum

The first part analyses students’ initial
perception about the global issues and the
second and third parts discuss the students'
understanding of the global issues through
the Ethical pathways curriculum.

Students’ prior knowledge about the major
global issues

In the first class, I collected data
with a pre-research questionnaire. In relation
to this theme, two questions were asked
about the global issues, 1) what are the
major challenges of the world? And what
is the number –one global challenge in
today’s time? This question provided me
with an understanding of their vision of
global issues.

In analyzing the data, I discovered
that the students seemed to emphasize quite
specific things with regard to the number-
one challenge of the world such as visa
issues, handicapped access, and how to save
money. Below is the figure 1 that represents
students’ responses on global issues from
the questionnaire.

Figure 1: Pre-lesson questionnaire
responses on what is the number-one
global challenge in today’s time?

As the data reveals that 14 of 28 students
wrote that visa issues is a major global issue,

5 students mentioned food quality, 3
students thought how to save money can be
a world’ biggest challenge, and 6 students
thought that world needs handicapped
access everywhere and this is the kind of
issue that needs to be addressed immediately.

After the students completed the
questionnaire, I conducted a focus group to
get the details about the issues that they
mentioned in the questionnaire. In the focus-
group interview, further probing also
resulted in similar concerns being expressed
by the students about the global issues.
Some of the responses are listed here.

I am not sure but I saw many
handicapped access that means
physical disabilities are the major
challenges of the world. Also, we need
more handicapped access for disabled
people and I think this is the biggest
issue that all the world is facing. (Sam)

The global issues are not necessarily
the way you are facing. It could be the
challenges that come to you if you are
struggling with your living like in a
village and crops not growing properly
that could be one of the global issues.
Because it is affecting the quality of
food. (Ali)

I think it includes many things such as
visa issues. When people travel to other
country they need a visa to enter in this
country, and there is no global visas.
Even to come to Dubai we need a visa
that expires soon. I think people need a
global visa so they can travel anywhere
in the world, and I think this is the
biggest global issue. (Jose)

Oh yes, residence and work visa should
not expire, I think all around the world
people are worrying about it. (Zack)

No, I think it can be related to income,
means about you earned the money you
spend and the money you save. (Sarah)



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I think children playing Fort Night
(game) is biggest issue in the world.
(Zack)

This initial data, from the questionnaire,
and the focus group conversation revealed
that students identified some of the issues
but they don’t seem the actual current or
major issues that the majority of the world
is facing now as per the current Ethical
Pathways module. Ethical Pathways
Module follows the list of global challenges
and issues of the United Nations. However;
it seems that what the students see or hear
around them are considered as genuine
global issues by them.

Ethical Pathways lessons provide a
venue for discussing major issues such as
climate change, gender equality, equal
opportunities of education, poverty and
illiteracy in major continents in the world,
peace and security, population, health
related issues, and migrations.

Students’ understanding of global issues
through Ethical Pathways curriculum

My aim was to facilitate students’
awareness of world issues, and some of the
major local issues. To achieve this, I taught
sixteen classes (16 hours) in total, where I
used content from the Ethical Pathways
curriculum and designed activities for
students to explore global issues such as
social, economic, and justice issues. I
designed those activities based on the
student’s prior knowledge about global
issues.

Students responses on the first class
(from the questionnaire and focused group
interview) led me to take a closer look at the
Ethical Pathways curriculum to explore the
ways to make the students aware about their
role as a global citizen. I picked the case
studies from the Ethical Pathways
curriculum that illustrated some of the major
issues that the world is facing now. Hence, I
planned the lesson in a way that it enhanced
and developed students’ knowledge about
some of the major issues such as economic,

environmental and communal issues facing
the world today.

In the second, and third classes, before
using the case studies, I picked some
pictures from Unit 1 “Our world our
challenges,” of the Ethical Pathways
curriculum that show poverty, illiteracy,
global warming and health issues in the
major countries in world countries, and
presented them on the slides. To further
enhance students’ awareness about the
major issues of the world I played a short
clip “our world our challenges”. This video
explores a lot of issues the world is facing
today; students watched episodes on poverty,
illiteracy and global warming. To explore
the issues in detail I asked:

● What global issues or conflict did
you see here?

● Who are held responsible for these
events or issues?

Students thought individually first
and then discussed the facts about the video
in groups and replied to me as well as
exchanged ideas between themselves.
Shown here is one student conversation:
Oh my God, we have lots of problems that
we did not know. (Sam)

For me, unemployment and poverty are
the main issues from the clip and we all
are responsible for them. (Jose)

Do you mean we can reduce those
issues by ourselves? (Zack)

Of course, if we minimize our
greediness then everybody will get
food and jobs. In this way poverty
can be reduced. (Sam)

This discussion demonstrated that
students were becoming aware of some of
the issues that faced not just them, but the
major population in the world. This
conversation and dialogue between the
students acknowledge that they even



73

considered themselves (human beings)
responsible for those issues. Sam’s and
Zack’s comments show that students
themselves realize the issues and gradually
start to discuss the causes and the possible
solutions of these issues.

Then in the 4th and 5th classes,
students read the case studies from the
different parts of the world that exhibit major
issues they are facing. Those case studies are
taken from the Unit 2 “Understanding the
issues” in the Ethical Pathways curriculum.
My purpose to use those case studies was
that students just are not aware of those
issues, but understand the causes of the

issues. Therefore, for understanding the
issues in depth students encountered three
major categories of issues; economic issues,
social issues and environmental issues of the
world. Students divided into 3 groups (mix
group of 9th & 10th grades) and each group
was assigned a category, i.e. Social,
Economic or Environmental, where they had
to choose one issue under the assigned
category. In the group, students read the
assigned case studies, then identified the
issue or challenge in this story, and then
discussed the root causes and possible
solutions about that issue. The students’
responses are captured in figure 2 below:

Groups Major issues Causes Possible Solutions
1 (Economic related):

Poverty
Lack of education,
over- population,
diseases and limited
employment
opportunities

individuals and institutions
should provide support to
increase awareness about
savings, quality education,
facilities to get skills

2 (Environmental
related issue): Global
warming

high use of fossil fuel
and electricity

do not waste electricity,
change cars to natural gas,
conserve water

3 (Social issue):
Conflicts and wars

misunderstandings, no
dialogues, different
religious aspects

UNO should play it's role to
minimize the conflict,
individuals should respect
human rights, respect to
pluralism

Figure 2: Categorization of some of the World major issues

During this entire activity, I observed that
students deeply engaged in the discussion to
identify the issues, and possible causes of the
issues. In addition, I noticed that their
understanding of the issues are not just
roaming around them, but they are aware of
the issues that people of the world are facing.
While analyzing data, clearly, I could see a
shift in the students’ understanding of some
of the major issues that the majority is facing
such as poverty, global warming and
conflicts.

In the next class, after completing the
above chart, students presented their case
study, identified issues, and causes and

possible solutions to the entire class. After
the presentation, during the whole class
conversation, Ali who identified that
improper growth of the crops was the main
global issue, in the initial class, asked; “What
is our responsibility because there are many
people in our country who are also facing
such problems?” I took this opportunity and
assigned students to write what they can do
for the development of the society in which
they live in.

Here are two of the suggestions that the
students came up with;



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We agree that quality education and
training facilities for people to get
skills could help the people of Congo to
fight against poverty. (Jose)

However, we need an efficient
leadership who eliminates corruption
in the country and will utilize resources
responsibly. (Sam)

During all the activities students
demonstrated great interest to work in their
groups which created a good level of
motivation in students and evoked in them a
sense of responsibility. This group activity
pushed them a little to think about their own
context in which they live in and we have
regional issues, too.

Students’ understanding of major local
(Dubai) issues through Ethical Pathways
curriculum

Therefore, after spending eight
classes to explore, and understand the world
major issues through Ethical Pathways
curriculum, I spent another eight classes on
understanding local issues (Dubai’s issue)

After discussing global issues, I
started a lesson entitled “Let us develop an
understanding of local (our surrounding)
issues” which is based on Unit 3 “Our
surroundings” for exploring local issues to
facilitate students’ awareness towards
understanding the issues. To achieve this, I
used different strategies to understand
students’ learning and their perceptions
throughout this period.
In relation to this theme, in the 9th class I
started off by asking a question from
students in pre-questionnaire and focus
group interviews;

Q: What are some of the major challenges in
Dubai? How aware are we aware Dubai’s
major issues or challenges?

Students’ responses informed me
that as there is no substantial coverage of
media (TV and newspaper) due to
contextual sensitivity it is hard to be aware

of the current issues of UAE. A few
students reported in the general discussion in
the classroom that there were no major
problems in Dubai. Some students pointed
to minor issues that they and their family
face such as finding parking for the cars.
Overall, students’ responses don’t reflect
some of the major Dubai’s issues in Dubai
such as running out of fresh water and labor
issues. Therefore, some students pointed out
minor issues which were frustrating for them
and their families like finding a car parking
spot or getting tickets. For example, Haya
said in the focus group interview;

“I think only getting fines and tickets is
the main issue of UAE.”

Zack agreed and responded to Haya;

“For me, finding a parking for a
vehicle is also an issue in UAE”

Interestingly students describe the issues
which are disturbing them personally,
although the issue of traffic jams leads to the
awareness about other important issues like
energy wastage and global warming.
However, they did not think about the lack
of fresh water or energy wasting in UAE but
they pointed to the traffic jam and issues of
car parking.

Such responses made me a little bit
worried, which was evident from my
reflection that day;

How can I start to guide them about the
major local issues which could be
understood by students and their
parents due to the conservative society
of UAE? How can I prepare them to get
ready to accept their role as an active
citizen of the country? (Teacher’s
Reflection- 1st Feb 2017)

These views from students led me to
think about teaching strategies which I could
apply to facilitate students’ awareness about
social service through exploring local issues.
For that I again explored the Ethical



75

Pathways curriculum, and created an
activity about teaching the current local
issues to students so that they can be
encouraged to serve the society.

For exploring current local issues, I
provided some basic information about
current Dubai issues through newspaper
clippings. The clippings describe most
urgent issues of Dubai such as shortage of
fresh water, wastage of energy, non-existing
recycling, labor issues. Then I divided
students into groups and allowed them to
discuss the issues presented in the articles.
Students’ discussion showed that before
reading these clips from newspapers, they
were not aware of local issues such as
running out of fresh water and energy usage.
Findings suggest that this basic information
played a vital role in students’ understanding
about urgent issues facing Dubai. While
analyzing data, I found that students learned
some of the facts and figures written on the
charts and graphs about the local issues in
the articles. One of my students Haya said;

“In Dubai water is becoming more
valued than oil. It will disappear and
run out in our lives because 70% of
fresh water is being used in homes and
30% in businesses.”

Similarly, Ali expressed her views in her
feedback diary on energy issue;

“Dubai needs to put more efforts
towards important issues of the energy
sector, like generating power and
desalination of water. I believe, there is
no future of Dubai without sustainable
energy in order to keep continuing their
developments."

Findings indicated that now
students at least knew some urgent issues of
Dubai through articles and group discussion.
I prepared a role play activity for inspiring
the students with human empathy and
sympathy so they could get involved in
social services practically.

Role play activity was designed about
the changes that have taken place in the
modern life of Dubai. Students discussion
revealed how some of these changes have
improved their lives however; others have
created new problems and challenges in
Dubai as well. While analyzing the data, this
activity made the students understand how
they manage the changes so that it improves
our quality of life instead of becoming a
problem. Findings also tell that a role play
activity helped the students to know the
causes of the current issues in UAE which
led them to bring some possible solutions.

Haya. acting as a person who wasted a
lot of energy, says,

“Oh my God, I wasted so much natural
resources which I cannot re-produce.”

One of the students Ali came up with
the idea after playing a role of thirsty
man, “Please Save water, save life and
save Dubai.”

One of the students from the same group
quoted,

“Each and every drop of fresh water
counts.”

Later on, for getting deep
understanding of how to address these local
issues, I invited a guest speaker from
NGO(ABC). ABC is a recycling company
that provides recycle bins on demands.
schools, and industries, and even residents
can ask the companies to provide the recycle
bins on a weekly basis. However, the
important thing is to educate ourselves, and
others to use those bins. Students inspired
through the work that ABC company is
doing to save Dubai, and wrote a letter to the
principal to have a recycle bin from ABC
company on daily basis. Then students-
participants asked the principal to go in
different classes in the school and provide
the information about the recycling and how
to use those bins.



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At this stage, students had enough
information about the main issues of Dubai
which our local people are also facing.
Therefore, they feel little responsibility to
make others aware about those issues, and
how we can play a vital role in minimizing
them.
In the last class (sixteenth class), I

conducted a post-questionnaire, in which I
did see a clear shift in students'
understanding of global, and local issues. In
the focus groups interview, students
discussed not just the issues that the majority
of the world is facing but discuss the causes,
and the possible solution of them. In the
focus groups interview, students were so
excited about using the recycle bins for
recycling of some of the resources and
seemed motivated to educate others about it.

Discussion
Learning is defined as a change in

skills, knowledge and attitude of the learners;
both the definitions of learning and teaching
show their interdependence on each other
(McKinney, 2004). In light of the above, the
findings of this research suggest that during
the exploration of global and local issues,
students critically engaged in the process of
learning, which gradually helped them to
find the relevance of the text to their
societies.

While knowing about issues,
students felt that applying the knowledge to
the “real world” situations motivated them
to become involved in finding a solution to
some of the poverty problems people
encountered (Butin, 2003). The findings
indicate that approaches to explore issues for
enhancing social services in students took
the learners beyond the text and got them
involved in the practical application where
they learnt a sense of civic responsibility
(Dewey, 1937). This shows in several
statements made by the students (see 11) as
well as from data which was gathered and
analyzed during research.

The findings of the study showed
that exploring issues with students

strengthened the suggested pedagogical
approach of the curriculum where students‟
learning lead them through a guided inquiry,
reflective articulation and creative
expression of their thoughts” (Teachers
guide, 2011, 49). I used different strategies
to explore the issue for producing awareness
in students about social services for example
using video clips, where content of clips
brings perspective of the outside world into
the classroom which gives real life
experiences to students (Oddone, 2011).
Video clips help to make the curriculum
even more relevant to students’ lives
(Brennan, & Resnick, 2012).

As a teacher, I learned that exploring
global and local issues contributes in
promoting a sense of social responsibility in
students where they look at their active role
in the society and community (Rodrigo-
González & Caballer-Tarazona, 2015) as it
is also shown in Sam and Zack quotes (see
16). However, social and community-
services activities are not a huge part of
schools’ regular practices in Dubai context.
That is why I found through this research
that students were not much aware of the
local or Dubai’s issues. The reason could be
a print and digital media in Dubai which is
not so strong to explore the issues facing
Dubai's residents (Senteni, & Tamim, 2011).

In addition, the findings about
exploring local issues led me to think that
the majority of students belong to the well
settled family in Dubai. Therefore,
interestingly, students pointed out the issues
about parking the cars in rush hours and
traffic jam rather than thinking about global
warming and energy issues in Dubai. In that
case, Ethical Pathways curriculum helped
them explore the major issues of Dubai
which came out in student’s post
questionnaire and focus group interviews.

Conclusion
Literature reviews report that

students can play an active role in the
process of learning if they are emotionally



77

involved in the learning process (Dewey,
1937; Vygotsky, 1978). Dewey (1937)
argued that learners need to be empathizing
for creative learning towards problem
solving and utilizing hands-on experiences.
Interestingly, the Ethical Pathways
curriculum offers the approaches and
teaching methods that help students gain
empathy and sympathy to understand others’
pain.

In conclusion, the Ethical Pathways
curriculum provides an additional means to
reaching the educational aims and objectives
of this curriculum. However, there is need to
use different approaches in teaching classes
for producing awareness of issues and
challenges locally and globally (Clarke, &
Drudy, 2006). The reason is that classes in
the Ethical Pathways schools are based on
text centered-learning where students get
fact based Islamic educations and they do
not engage in the process of critical thinking.
In contrast, I took an approach where
students focus on real life issues and
challenges, which engages them in critical
thinking through a variety of teaching
techniques. In this way, the Ethical
Pathways curriculum helps students to bring
and use their faith-based learning outside the
classroom where others can benefit from
their services. I also developed my learning
that external sources like video clips help
the students to inspire with human empathy
and sympathy which enhance their
motivation to play their active role to society
for minimizing the issues. All over, the
strategies for making students understand
about local and worldwide issues which
enhance their responsiveness, bring new life
in the classroom. In addition, students
enhanced problem solving skills and made a
process of learning and teaching more
enjoyable.

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Appendix 1

Pre & Post-Course Questionnaire

Name: ___________________________ Date: ___________

1 What are the major challenges or issues of the world? And what is the number –
one global challenge in today’s time?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

2 Who do you think is the responsible for these issues?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

3 What are the major challenges or issues of Dubai?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

4 Howwould you contribute to minimize any of the local issues?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________