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Yeeva Cheng

(she/hers)

Learning Engineer Track

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Motivation

https://www.reddit.com/r/Feminism/comments/l2mpcj/menstruation/

I want to start with discussing the reason behind why I started this course. First [*], I want to point out that at least half of the population experiences menstruation, and yet, the only legislation the United States has passed has been in only 6 states requiring public schools to supply free menstrual health products [*]. In terms of curriculum, there is no policy requiring menstrual health education; where it is taught, it is often under the broad umbrella of sex education, which differs widely.

Menstrual health education is important [*], most obviously, for its direct impact on the bodies, participation in work and education, reproductive health, and lives of people. It also is important to promoting gender equity and empowerment. The sexualization of female anatomy[*] is often where gender discrimination and gender-based violence begins, and where autonomy over one’s body ends.

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Objectives & Outcomes

Describe the menstrual cycle

2. List strategies to manage one’s cycle

3. Make decisions about a management material

4. Discuss global cultural taboos or social norms about menstruation

5. Articulate how menstrual hygiene education matters to menstruators

As such, this curriculum aims to provide a menstrual health curriculum that not only teaches about menstrual phases and the reproductive anatomy, but also discusses gender, inequity and empowerment. Specifically, learners will do this by meeting objectives including describing the menstrual cycle [*], listing strategies to manage one’s cycle [*], making decisions about a management material [*], discussing global cultural taboos or social norms about menstruation [*], and articulating how menstrual hygiene education matters to menstruators [*].

By the end of the curriculum, menstruators can look forward to key outcomes including:

1. Defining the term ‘menstruators’ �2. Diagramming the sexual and reproductive organs �3. Describing the menstrual cycle �4. Listing strategies to manage their menstrual cycle �5. Discussing the social, economic, environmental, and political challenges of �menstruation

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Target learners

Girls and…

Non-binary/genderqueer people
Transgender people

*Ages 10-14

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Gender Responsiveness

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SRL Crash Course

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Cultural Responsiveness

Co-construction

Self-efficacy

Co-regulation

Self-regulated learning (SRL) theory

Perry et al. (2017)

Additionally, I wanted this course to be culturally responsive; just as discrimination against menstruators exists in different forms in many societies, so do the ways in which menstruators have learned to manage and navigate menstruation. I found it important that this course was thus flexible and adaptive enough in the delivery of content and facilitation to work for menstruators of different cultural backgrounds and prior knowledge.

I drew again from self-regulated learning theory [*], specifically leaning on Perry et al.’s (2017) exploration of co-regulation [*] in diverse classrooms to design my module activities, which often entail co-construction [*] in Jamboard, Padlet and discussion forum posts or projects. Given that menstruators come from a vast array of cultural backgrounds and prior knowledge, I sought to frame problem-solving as a collaborative effort that decentralized the role of the instructor, aiming to increase learners’ self-efficacy [*] as they practice referring to each other throughout the course for help resources and support. Here in this example [*], you can see learners are prompted to think about policies they would change around menstrual health, and the activity leads to a Jamboard collection of co-constructed responses to policy ideas that would respond to challenges or social stigma that menstruators face.

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Assessment: Must Haves & Amazings

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Thank you

yeeva@email.unc.edu

www.yeevacheng.com

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