What is Multicultural Education
in Science Teaching?
To understand Multicultural Education in Science Teaching, one first has to talk about Inquiry teaching and Constructivism. These two terms are current buzz words and are included in almost all national education standards. Constructivism is a word used to describe how a student learns. That learning occurs by the student fitting new information together with what they already know, thereby constructing their own knowledge. Inquiry describes a strategy the teacher uses, to help the student learn. Inquiry teaching is a student-centered approach, where the teacher creates experiences so the student can discover the meaning behind an observation. Then the student can explain what they have learned and apply it in a new situation. Obviously, this is an in-depth and hands-on approach, involving more from the teacher than just lecturing about scientific facts and theories.
In practice, it means the teacher should take into account the
context, the beliefs, and attitudes of the learner. This is where Multicultural
Education comes in. The best way for an any kid to learn science,
is when the teacher sets up a learning experience that includes objects and
relationships that are an integral part of that kid's living world, whether
that child is African-American or White, from the city or from the back hollow.
This learning experience should have personal meaning, which helps to excite
the child to begin asking questions, making observations, explaining those observations,
drawing conclusions, and ultimately sharing their newly constructed ideas with
their peers. A lecture or 2 in here can be very appropriate, once the student
is engaged and wants to find out more information. The last step - sharing ideas
- is perhaps where most learning occurs. Its' the same with us adults, we learn
best when we share our ideas, explain them, and revise them with others through
collaboration. This is the rationale for cooperative learning.
Multicultural Education is a complex process of establishing equity in education and dismantling current institutional racist practices. It entails educators to continually work on becoming more enlightened with time. To find out more about Multicultural Education read this interview with Christine Sleeter from Rethinking Schools.
Embrace as many cultures as you can and enjoy the differences.