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5. Strengthening social connections: Family policy can strengthen social
connections by providing opportunities for families to connect with one another and
with their communities. Policies that help build social networks can reduce isolation
and promote a sense of belonging.
Based on these reasons, an undergraduate family policy course titled “U.S. Family
Issues and Social Action” is offered through the Family and Consumer Sciences
Education (FCSE) program for junior- and senior-level undergraduate students
at a midwestern university. This course was designed to provide students with an
understanding of family dynamics, help them understand policy impacts on families,
Dr. Cynthia L. Miller is increase their critical literacy skills, increase their awareness of social justice issues
Assistant Professor of
Family and Consumer related to families, and prepare them to be effective family advocates in the future.
Sciences Education in One of the strengths of the family and consumer sciences profession is working to
the College of Human improve the quality and standards of individual and family life by influencing public
Sciences at Texas Tech policy (American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences, 2021).
University. She served as The purpose of this qualitative action research study was to examine the
a CTE administrator for implementation of four critical science-focused instructional strategies in an
two West Texas school
districts for 13 years, undergraduate family policy course for increasing students’ self-confidence in
prior to which she was effectively taking social action on perennial or emerging issues affecting families
a secondary business and expanding their understanding of the impact they could have on public policy
education teacher for 11 affecting families in the future. To address this purpose, the researcher pursued three
years in Lubbock. Miller research goals: (a) to identify instructional strategies with a critical science emphasis
received her Bachelor of that could increase students’ self-confidence in taking social action on family issues
Science and her Master of
Education in Secondary and the impact they could have on public policy affecting families; (b) to implement
Business Education, as and evaluate the impact of these instructional strategies in a family policy course;
well as her PhD in Family and (c) to reflect on the implementation process and identify areas for improvement.
and Consumer Sciences
Education from Texas Limitations of the Study
Tech University. She is a This qualitative action research study was conducted in one family policy
member of Alpha Sigma course at the undergraduate level. The focus of the study was the junior and senior
Chapter of Texas State
Organization and of undergraduate student population. The results of the research were specific to the
several other education- educational environment and unique characteristics of this site and, as such, with
related organizations a limited sample, the most applicable research design was action research, which
related to the family and benefits both local conditions and the researcher-teacher’s practice. In order to
consumersciences field. capture a representative picture of the study, multiple forms of data collection were

cynthia.l.miller@ttu.edu used to increase internal generalizability and support valid conclusions (Creswell,
2018). Access to this site was possible because the researcher is a member of
this educational community. The researcher is a faculty member and classroom
instructor of the family policy course. Disclosure and awareness of this influence
directly impact the credibility and validity of the research because ultimately the
trustworthiness of the data is directly tied to the trustworthiness of the researcher
(Creswell, 2018).
In all forms of data collection, participation was voluntary. Institutional Review
Board approval was obtained to safeguard and protect the participant population.

The Critical Science Perspective
This study was grounded in the tenets of the critical science perspective and its
connection to a “Practical Reasoning Think Sheet” framework (Fox, 1997; Laster,
2008; Montgomery, 1999, 2008) in the development of the four critical science-
focused instructional strategies. Therefore, prior to a description of the study,

36 The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin: International Journal for Professional Educators