Educators have often overlooked cultural beliefs and perspectives in science education, however recent research emphasizes the importance of recognizing diversity in the science classroom.  Recognizing diversity facilitates a more active learning experience for the student because it emphasizes understanding in terms of different perspectives rather than just learning the facts. Children are not all the same, and consequently, the way that they all do science will not be the same. Teachers must find a way to make science appealing to everyone, and multicultural education is one way to facilitate communication in all subjects between students, their teachers, and the rest of society.

It is vital that students understand not only the hows and whys of science, but also the whos. Children have a strong image of a white male, with glasses and messy hair, as the standard scientist, but it is our job to erase that image and show them that scientists look just like them. In fact, there are scientists of every race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic background. Teachers need to provide this diverse curriculum that exposes students to women, people of color, and people with disabilities in history, science, mathematics, and so on. Presently, America needs more scientists and engineers and students must realize that they do not have to be a stereotypical scientist.

There will come a day when multiculturalism and science are not discussed independently, but are instead found in the same conversation. However, until that day comes, we as teachers need to be sure that in our own classrooms science instruction stresses real-life applications and acknowledges individual differences so that our students understand that every person is a scientist no matter their ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. We cannot afford to wait until the Standards of Learning tell us this is important, we must start today in every classroom. (Adapted from http://education.cortland.edu/teach/papers/vamulticultural.html)

The Multicultural Resource Center has a variety of resources available to support multicultural science instruction.  Consider borrowing our musical instruments to investigate the study of sound, sand paintings and sculptures illustrate geological properties, butterfly paintings and biology.  Call or email the MRC to see what objects are available to enhance your area of study.  We also have an extensive collection of books and videos that provide background information for teachers on multicultural science pedagogy and lesson ideas.  We also have a number of resources featuring people of a variety of ethnic backgrounds and women in science fields.  You can browse our catalog online. 

Additional Resources on Multicultural Science Education:

http://www.africa.upenn.edu/K-12/African_Science.html

Resources for teaching about African and African americnas in Science.  Includes examples in various science disciplines.

http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/environmental/matsumoto_poppo.htm Article on environmental education and diversity.

http://www.aeoe.org/resources/diversity/index.html Dicersity resource from the Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education.

http://www.eed.state.ak.us/TLS/FRAMEWORKS/mathsci/msapdg.htm  A bibliography of resources related to equity issues in science and math from the Alaska Department of Education.

http://academic.evergreen.edu/b/barkar10/3859574.pdf  Article entitled: “Crafting Multicultural Science Education With Preservice Teachers Through Service-Learning”

http://science.nsta.org/enewsletter/2004-02/tst0303_64.pdf Article entitled “Science Motivation in the Multicultural Classroom”

http://www.wmich.edu/slcsp/SLCSP148/slcsp148.pdf  Article entitled:  “Defining ‘Science’ In a Multicultural World: Implications for Science Education”

http://amse.edhost.org/index.php  Association for Multicultural Science Education website

http://www.ed.psu.edu/CI/Journals/1998AETS/f2_1_weld.rtf  Article entitled “Less Talk, More Action, For Multicultural Science”

http://www.seac.org/  Student Environmental Action Coalition website—seeks to fight environmental and social injustice.

http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/multicultural/freed.htm  Article entitled:  “Multicultural Science Education: Myths, Legends, and Moon Phases” 

http://www.upei.ca/~xliu/multi-culture/home.htm  Contains various links to information about scientists through out history

http://www.wv-hsta.org/mced/activities/default.htm List of multicultural activities to use in science teaching

http://www.ouhk.edu.hk/cridal/misc/krugly.htm  Paper on the theoretical basis of multicultural science

http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/sites/science.html  Edchange has a collection of links related to multicultural science instruction

http://lmri.ucsb.edu/educators/04_dobb.pdf  Pamphlet entitled “Effective Science Instruction for English Learners” from the California Science Project

http://www.ouhk.edu.hk/~rcwww/misc/jegede.htm Transcending Cultural Borders, Implications for Science Teaching

Lesson Plans:

http://jeffcoweb.jeffco.k12.co.us/passport/lessonplan/lessons/eggs.html  Integrated lesson plan on eggs

http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/publications/handbook/index.html Handbook for Culturally Responsive Science Instruction from Alaska Science Consortium

http://jeffcoweb.jeffco.k12.co.us/passport/lessonplan/lessons/houses2.html Integrated lesson plan on houses around the world

http://retanet.unm.edu  Collection of lesson plans on Latin America.  Use search term “science” to pull up science lessons

http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/11.7.html Observation activity

http://archives.cbc.ca/294p.asp?ActProf=782&IDLan=1&Nav=AvPr Lessonon environmental racism

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1997/7/97.07.05.x.html Lead contamination lesson plan