Schedule for Science/Math Teachers for 4 sessions (3 hours each)

HSTA Multicultural Ed website
Faculty – Bardwell, Visiting Scholars, and HSTA teachers

Target Audience at WVU: Fw/S teachers (~12)
Material Needs: flip charts, tape, handouts, blank paper, projector/laptop, markers, stickies, boom box w/CD’s

Goals of a Multicultural Ed Thrust
• Acquire knowledge about the histories and cultures of diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, and language groups within the nation and within their schools
• Examine effects of social privilege, economic oppression, and institutional racism, which contribute to reproduction of societal inequities and injustices, lower expectations, underachievement, and institutional discrimination.
• Enhance teacher awareness of attitudes, beliefs, and values towards their own ethnicity/culture and how that influences their teaching and science in general.
• Help teachers identify positive aspects of students’ culture, so as to reduce cultural isolation.
• Develop a critical pedagogy that questions whose beliefs, values, and interests get to be the foundation; that challenges the hidden curriculum that socializes students into the dominant culture
• Work toward a culturally relevant pedagogy that moves from a monoculture perspective (white, middle class, Christian, European heritage) to a multicultural perspective of education that respects all cultures and legitimizes all voices in a classroom.
• Develop the skills needed to translate culturally relevant pedagogy into effective instruction - construct and design relevant cultural metaphors and multicultural representations to help bridge the gap between what students know/appreciate and what they are to learn content-wise (problem-based learning).
• Utilize forms of transformative and social activist approaches.
• Provide time for teachers to analyze their beliefs and attitudes about the nature/origin of societal inequities, then share their changing teaching practices, so as to improve their efforts.
• Promote problem-based learning so as to enhance the teaching of the nature of science and mathematics.

First Session

Assign Readings and discuss: Personal Voices, Stereotype Vulnerability, Stages of Multicultural Education by Multicultural Pavilion

Activity 1. Icebreaker – Cultural Pursuit
(15 minutes)
Participants go around the room finding answers from others to fill in blanks.
Discussion to point out negative stereotypes and expose biases.

Activity 2. Explain Ground Rules
(10-15 minutes)
Students/Teachers need to think about how to be sensitive to each other and not offend others. Coming up with an original list of ground rules enables participants to feel empowered in group appropriateness and helps them to feel ‘safer’ to share their ideas. Can refer back to these rules when participants are not being sensitive.

Activity 3. Culture is Like an Iceberg
( (~30 minutes)
Teachers will brainstorm cultural aspects and leader will place ideas on top or bottom of an iceberg. Distinction is made as to which are visible and which invisible, as well as how cultural aspects interact. Leader highlights identification of features that all cultures have in common.

Activity 4. Stereotypes We Carry
(30 minutes for simulation and 20 minutes for reflection):
Teachers respond to stereotypes, and reflect on how stereotypes stigmatize, intimidate, and hold us back from a higher intelligence. Reference discussed: Good, C. et al. 2004. Improving adolescents’ standardized test performance: an intervention to reduce the effects of stereotype threat. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. Vol 24 (6), pg 645-662

Activity 5. Mini-lecturette and discussion: Blueprint of Multicultural Ideas –
(20 minutes)
Help Teachers/students describe culture, stereotype, and need for multicultural understanding
Include 3 readings – Stereotype Vulnerability, Stages of Multicultural Education, Personal Voices: The good White People

Activity 6. Watch video: Place at the Table (Teaching Tolerance)
(45 minutes)

Activity 7. Explain Journal entries
(5-10 minutes each day)
Students answer question prompts each day, and use their ideas to reflect on the institute and their invention.

Grad Course, 6:30-8:30pm

Second Session

Activity 8. Brainstorm an invention and do a concept map of invention
(30minutes to hour)
Teachers come up with an invention of their choice, and incorporate a cultural aspect into the invention. Leader explains how to display invention into a concept map.

Activity 9. Learn Inspiration Concept Mapping software to present invention
Computer Lab 414 (Hour)
Students move to computer lab and learn Inspiration software, begin design of concept map of their invention.

Activity 10. Sara Stankus - Speaker on Ruby Payne (teachers and FSC)
(1 ½ hours)
Non-verbal and Verbal Reponses, Hidden Rules of Class, Tools for classroom/clubs.

Third Session

Activity 11. Speaker on Ruby Payne cont’d

Evening MC Ed panel, 7:00-8:30
Understanding the Real Issues and Challenges for Educating Underrepresented Youth in West Virginia
Steve Starks moderator, Pat Kusimo, Sara Stankus
Discussion on HSTA student retention, culturally responsive instructional strategies

Activity 12. Inspiration Concept Mapping
Computer Lab 401, (1-2 hours)
Teachers/Students learn Inspiration concept mapping on the computer and design a concept map of their invention. Title, Function, Underlying science, how environment and society impacted, cultural benefits and limitations

Activity 13. Test for Bias

Activity 14. Presentations
(1 hour)
Teachers present their c-map to each other

Activity 15. Brief Encounters - Pandya and Chispa
(30minutes to hour)
Teachers act out 2 cultural personalities at a simulated party. Discussion afterwards helps reveal cultural prejudices and promotes more cultural awareness and respect.