College of Education

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1647

The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..

Browse

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1

MULTICULTURAL PEDAGOGIES: THREE TEACHERS' UNDERSTANDING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION
(2012) Prell, Vanessa Sylvie Calvo; Croninger, Robert; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
While multicultural curriculum is widely used, little is known about how teachers conceive of this curriculum. The purpose of this thesis is to explore teachers' understanding and implementation of multicultural curriculum, including the factors that affect, their beliefs about and practices of multicultural education. My study identifies two pedagogies of multicultural education: student centered and curriculum centered. These pedagogies are shaped by the teachers' view of student engagement, teacher authority, curriculum flexibility, and critical thinking. Teachers' motivations to include multicultural curriculum derived from personal experiences with race and culture. However, teachers struggled with organizational barriers such as limited time, incomplete multicultural knowledge, unachievable curriculum standards, and incompatible mandated texts. This research opens avenues for increased reflection upon and use of multicultural curriculum.