Razak Dwomoh knows why he teaches – and why he prepares future educators to use inquiry-based instructional approaches in their classrooms that foster the civic readiness of students.
“Looking at the way the world is now, and how the world is evolving, we need citizens who are not just making decisions for themselves but for the public good,” says Dwomoh, an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.
“How can we make good, democratic citizens who not only consume information because of an affiliation with a political or religious group but who consume information because they want to make critical and conscious decisions for the public good?” he adds. “Social studies is the subject that delves deeply into that and addresses this concern.”
Dwomoh, who joined the College of Education in the fall of 2023, works toward his goal by teaching MLTL 432: Methods and Materials of Instruction for Middle Level Social Science and TLEE 530: Teaching Social Studies in Elementary School.
Students in those courses clearly see what their professor hopes they will model: a form of teaching that make social studies – “considered a boring subject, especially at the K-8 levels,” he says – into something “engaging and fun.”
“When I talk about critical thinking in our field, I look specifically at four questions: ‘What you’re telling me – is this true? How do you know it is true? Show me the evidence that it is true, and that the evidence is accurate and reliable,’ ” Dwomoh says. “This ensures that students are engaged and that they are making meaningful learning.”
Confirmation of his influence is available.
“I had a couple students tell me, ‘I went into my student-teaching, I saw my cooperating teacher use Bloom’s taxonomy and I told her that we just learned this yesterday in class,’ ” he says. “Some of them also tell me, ‘What we are learning about the inquiry-design model I will try to implement in my student-teaching experience.’ I love to hear that.”
Meanwhile, confirmation of his impact is coming from an external source.
Eastern Illinois University’s College of Education named Dwomoh among five recipients of its 2024 Rising Star Award.
The award honors alumni within 10 years of graduation who have excelled in their field or career. Dwomoh and the others were celebrated Oct. 4 in Charleston, where he earned his master’s degree of Curriculum and Instruction in Elementary Education in 2019.
And it wasn’t the first time his alma mater had recognized him. In 2019, he received EIU’s Distinguished Student Award, Distinguished International Student Award and International Student of the Year Award; he also was named a Hamand Society Scholar and a Graduate Student Advisory Council Scholar.
But “I didn’t see this one coming,” Dwomoh says of the Rising Star nod. “I feel privileged and honored, and it sets me on a path: ‘Hey, if you’re a rising star, you need to keep doing more, because stars always stay on top.’ It puts a sense of responsibility on me to keep pushing for more and to do well going forward, and to not feel like, ‘OK, I have this award. This is the end now.’ ”
Not by far.
Dwomoh and colleagues Corrine Wickens, Hyoju Ahn, Cansu Tatar and Eric Junco received an NIU College of Education Morgridge Accelerator Research Grant of $25,000 this spring for Project PD-LIST (Professional Development in Literacy, Inquiry, Social Justice Pedagogy and AI-Technology).
PD-LIST offers four-modular teacher professional training and field-based research for K-8 social studies and literacy teachers in DeKalb Community Unit School District 428 to advance teacher effectiveness and students’ civic outcomes.
The early-career faculty member, who completed his Ph.D. at Purdue University in 2023, is also on the editorial board of the Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies.
His own research explores the intersection of teacher preparation, professional development, English learning, culturally sustaining pedagogies, diversity and equity and how multicultural and democratic citizenship are conceptualized, rationalized and taught in different educational systems.
It’s all a long way from Dwomoh’s homeland of Ghana.
After finishing high school with a love of learning, he majored in economics with a minor in history at the University of Cape Coast in the central region of Ghana.
Student-teaching took place during his senior year at UCC and, when his mandatory national service began after graduation, he elected to teach in a northern area of Ghana.
“When I finished my bachelor’s, I wanted to do my master’s. I wanted to do my Ph.D. I saw myself in that picture. I wanted to become the well-rounded educator,” says Dwomoh, who knew those goals would require a move.
“How would I do that? I needed to pursue higher education, so that was the trajectory that informed my decision to come here. The U.S. has a more rigorous educational system,” he adds, “and when I reached out to my professor, he was very engaging. The program was exciting to me, and the way he approached everything gave me confidence that I would have a wonderful advisor and professor.”
