Background

Multicultural Education in Science Teaching

Multicultural Education is a complex process of establishing equity in education and dismantling current institutional racist and classist practices that force students to become dis-engaged. In practice, it means taking into account the context, the beliefs, and attitudes of the learner 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 incorporate aspects of the student’s community and world at large that help to explain relationships, reveal current conditions, and offer viable solutions. Such experiences will help engage the child to begin asking questions and make observations. Through investigations the student can explain the observations, draw conclusions, and ultimately share 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. This collaborative aspect of science is a very important part because it brings in a critical analysis of concluding ideas viewed from many angles.

Two strategies used in Multicultural Educationin Science Teaching, are 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.

Multicultural Education 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.

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Last Updated January 16, 2007