WELCOME
“Cultural
Recognition
and
Sensitivity”
Using the
Natural
Inquirer in
Conservation
Education
Dr. Babs McDonald, Dr. Mike
Mengak, Michelle Andrews
1
Babs and Michelle
Social Scientist, FS,
WO, R&D, SQS Staff
Research Coordinator,
UGA
ASCD certified
2
Last week Babs
mentioned her
philosophy of
learning- “We learn
as a community
and that we all
have things to
teach and things to
learn.”
You will see later that
this philosophy is
actually in line with
a culturally
sensitive
perspective.
3
Overview of Course
*Guidelines
*What is Culture?
*Why Is Culture Important
in Learning?
*How to use the Natural
Inquirer while being
culturally sensitive?
*Evaluation
4
Guidelines/Reminders
•We cannot generalize
•Techniques can be adapted
•YOU will make this even better by your
participation
5
Objectives-Week Two
• Participants will recognize the role
culture plays in everyday life.
• Participants will explore and
understand the role of culture in
educational settings.
• Participants will recognize how they
bring their own culture into any given
situation.
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7
Culture
n. The totality of socially
transmitted behavior patterns,
arts, beliefs, institutions, and all
other products of human work
and thought.
Culture. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the
English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved April 04,
2007, from Dictionary.com website:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Culture
8
Sub-Culture
- a group of
people who
share a
distinctive
set of
cultural
beliefs and
behaviors
that differ in
some
significant
way from
that of the
larger
society.
9
Background
Cultural sensitivity and
recognition:
• Statistics regarding
A practice by educators who
Gap
provide responsive
instruction to diverse
classrooms; recognizing that
learning can be facilitated or
inhibited for students with
differing ethnic or cultural
backgrounds due to how
information is presented and
tasks are conducted.
10
What You Can’t See!
Who Are You??
11
Lived in 10
states and 2
countries
Vegetarian
Hiker
Detroit
Tigers Fan
Bread
Maker
Writer-9
Scuba
Diver
French
Speaker
books
12
Questions for Discussion
• What did this exercise
tell us about our small
group?
• How are we all
different?
• How are we all alike?
• How do we apply this
to an educational
setting?
Good job!
13
Why Is Culture Important to Us in
Conservation Education?
• We as folks who care about the
environment would not want our message
lost – we want future generations of
environmentally aware adults.
• We also want to increase awareness of
careers in Natural Resources, especially
among minority populations.
14
Ecology Connection
• How would you relate
cultural recognition to
ecology?
• Ecosystem
• Community
• Populations
• Members
• Individual
15
Eight Principles of
Ecology
Adaptation
Behavior
Diversity
Growth and Development
Emergent Properties
Limits
Regulation
Energy Flow
16
Adaptation
Minorities have had to adapt in the classroom
to a European model of education. However, as
classrooms become more diverse, educators
will need to adapt teaching techniques to
embrace a more multicultural classroom.
17
Behavior
Behavior among humans is based primarily
on experience or nurture which in a large
part comes from our cultural heritage.
18
Diversity
Ecology teaches us that a healthy ecosystem
is diverse. Likewise a healthy learning
environment will thrive from the diversity
within.
19
Growth and Development
Students are growing and developing at
differing rates. Social development could be
culturally influenced.
20
Emergent Properties
Just as a system (take for example the
respiratory system in an organism) is more
than the sum of its parts, a whole classroom
can be viewed as more than the sum of its
parts.
21
Limits
Just as ecological systems can be pushed
beyond their limits, so can social systems. The
classroom, or any other learning environment,
should provide an outlet for individual expression
without neglecting, degrading, or depleting the
22
cultural social systems of others.
Regulation
Regulation in ecology is based on feedback.
In the classroom feedback from students
opens up the opportunity for dialogue.
23
Energy Flow
Your turn – take this ecological principle and
develop a cultural component.
24
Discrimination
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
What forms of discrimination can you think of?
Gender Bias
Race
Class
Religion
Age
Disability
Sexual Orientation
Which of these could we inadvertently fall prey
to when in a education context?
25
Okay, let’s discuss the
diversity quiz.
26
Quiz for Cultural Sensitivity and Recognition
1. According to the U.S. Census
Bureau, the majority of poor
children live in:
a. urban areas
b. suburban areas
c. rural areas
*2. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice, between
1995 and 2001, the percentage of students reporting
that they had been a victim of a violent crime in
school:
a.increased from 6% to 18%
b.increased from 18% to 30%
c.decreased from 25% to 3%
d.decreased from 10% to 6%
*www.ojpusdoj.gov/bjs/cvict_c.htm
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3. What percentage of U.S. toxic waste dumps that
do not comply with Environmental Protection Agency
regulations are found in predominantly African
American or Latino communities?
a. 10%
b. 50%
c. 75%
d. 90%
4. Which of the following variables most closely
predicts how high someone will score on the SAT
test?
a. Race
b. Region of residence
c. Family income
d. Parents' academic achievement
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5. Compared with schools in which 5% or less of the
students are people of color, how likely are schools
in which 50% or more of the students are people of
color to be over-crowded (25% or more beyond
capacity)?
a. equally as likely
b. twice as likely
c. four times as likely
d. six times as likely
29
6. Children raised by single mothers attain, on
average:
a. 4 fewer years of education than children
raised by two parents
b. 2 fewer years of education than children
raised by two parents
c. the same level of education as children
raised by two parents
d. 2 more years of education than children
raised by two parents
30
7. 97% of all students in public high schools regularly
hear homophobic comments from peers. What
percentage report hearing homophobic remarks from
school staff or faculty?
a.5%
b.27%
c.53%
d.74%
*8. What percentage of the world population regularly
accesses the Internet?
a. 2%
b. 15%
c. 29%
d. 51%
*www..internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
1,244,449,601
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9. According to the U.S. Department of Education,
about 61% of public school students in the U.S.
are white. What percentage of public school
teachers are white?
a. 61%
b. 73%
c. 87%
d. 99%
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Answers to Quiz
1.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the majority of
poor children live in: rural areas.
2. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice, between 1995
and 2001, the percentage of students reporting that they
had been a victim of a violent crime in school: decreased
from 10% to 6%.
3. What percentage of U.S. toxic waste dumps that do not
comply with Environmental Protection Agency
regulations are found in predominantly African American
or Latino communities? 75%
33
Answers to Quiz
4.Which of the following variables most closely predicts
how high someone will score on the SAT test? Family
income
5. Compared with schools in which 5% or less of the
students are people of color, how likely are schools in
which 50% or more of the students are people of color to
be over-crowded (25% or more beyond capacity)? four
times as likely
6. Children raised by single mothers attain, on average:
the same level of education as children raised by two
parents.
34
Answers to Quiz
7. 97% of all students in public high schools regularly hear
homophobic comments from peers. What percentage
report hearing homophobic remarks from school staff
or faculty? 53%
8.
What percentage of the world population regularly
accesses the Internet? 2%
9.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, about
61% of public school students in the U.S. are white.
What percentage of public school teachers are white?
87%
35
Discussion
• What did this quiz tell you about
yourself?
• What did you learn about yourself?
• Did you find yourself making any
assumptions?
36
Question to Ponder:
What would you say is a
culture conflict?
37
5-7 minutes
38
Question to Ponder:
What would you say is a
culture conflict?
Did you realize you
probably experience
culture conflict
everyday?
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Culture Conflicts
“Culture conflicts or
discontinuities can
take many different
forms, some of
which hold the
potential to
adversely affect
teacher-student
relationships, the
learning process,
and student
outcomes.”
40
(Protheroe, Barsdate, 1991)
Areas in Which Culture Conflict
Occurs in Learning
Environments:
• Social Structures – Unique ways of organizing people to
participate in learning events
• Cognitive Styles – analytical vs. holistic patterns
• Non-Verbal Communication – Expressing emotions, proximity
to others
• Verbal Communication – language, and “ways of talking”
• Acculturation – the transition of adopting a new culture.
(side note, assimilation is not the same as acculturation)
(Protheroe, N., Barsdate, K., 1991)
41
Culture Conflict
Verbal Communication:
Native Americans have what
is considered by the
predominate culture in the
U.S. long wait periods
between one speaker’s
comments or questions and
the next speaker’s response.
Mainstream classroom culture
is a “take the floor,” call
attention to oneself style.
(Protheroe, N., Barsdate, K.,1991)
42
Personal Culture
Remember these
two ladies?
Anyone confused
about what their
hand gestures
mean?
43
Personal Culture/Culture Conflict
• The thumbs up sign means one in Germany.
•
The thumbs up sign is vulgar in Iran.
• The ok sign is a money sign in Japan.
• The ok sign means zero in France.
• The ok sign is vulgar in Greece.
• The ok sign is obscene in Spain.
(http://soc302.tripod.com/soc_302rocks/id6.html)
44
Personal Culture
• Our own culture can be quite subtle.
• Try this next week to look for culture conflicts.
• Our demographic scene is changing and will
continue to do so.
• We want to be successful conservation and/or
formal educators, therefore awareness of our
own culture will facilitate us in being so.
• You are to be applauded for your participation in
this training, for no doubt you are already on the
path of cultural recognition and sensitivity!
45
Principles of Inclusion
• 1. Manage your own stereotypes and
assumptions.
• 2. Share membership with all members
of your team.
• 3.Promote Sensitivity, respect,
inclusion and change.
• No doubt that is in part of why you are
all here.
46
Why Look at Culture In Regard to
Education?
• John Dewey over 60
years ago emphasized
that teaching and learning
must be connected with
the student’s experience
(Experience and
education, 1938).
• Our culture is our
experience. It often is the
lens through which we
view the world.
47
General Education in the U.S.
• Currently what we are
doing is not working
for every child.
• How do we know?
48
For Every 100 Kindergartners
(U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000)
24-Year-Olds Latinos
Blacks
Whites Asians
Graduated
From High
School
62
87
91
94
Completed at
least some
college
29
54
62
80
Obtained at
least a
bachelor’s
degree
6
16
30
49
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Reading=Success in Life and Good
Environmental Awareness
• “In addition, current trends predict that
when these white kindergartners are 17,
over 95 percent will be in high school
reading at a 12th grade level while 25
percent of their black peers will have
dropped out or, if still in school, will read at
an 8th grade level.” (D’Amico, 2001)
50
U.S. Census Bureau, 2005
Economic Impact
$60,000
$50,000
Bachelor's
Degree $54,689
$40,000
$30,000
High School
Diploma $29,448
$20,000
$10,000
No High School
Diploma $19,915
$0
51
What Students Need: Resources
for Closing the Gap
• Access to Challenging Curriculum and
Instruction
• High Quality Teachers
• High Expectations
• Extra Supports
Williams, B. (2003). Closing the Achievement Gap; A Vision
for Changing Beliefs and Practices, 2nd Edition
52
• Education=earning power
• A “one size fits all” approach does
not work regardless of the setting
(2003, p. 38).
• We need to connect the experience of
diverse cultures with learning, but
how?
Williams, B. (2003). Closing the Achievement Gap; A Vision
for Changing Beliefs and Practices, 2nd Edition
53
Next Module
Participants will
learn techniques
that are easily
applied in any
educational
setting that are
culturally
sensitive.
54