Instructional Strategies in Advocating Instructional Strategies in Advocating Social Awareness, Acceptance, and Respect Social Awareness, Acceptance, and Respect

for Diversified Cultures will Increase for Diversified Cultures will Increase Cultural Tolerance for Students in Grade 3 in Cultural Tolerance for Students in Grade 3 in

The B.C. Elementary School.The B.C. Elementary School.

Elita TzikElita TzikEd. 703.22: Seminar in Applied Theory and Research IIEd. 703.22: Seminar in Applied Theory and Research IIProfessor Sharon O’Connor- PetrusoProfessor Sharon O’Connor- PetrusoFinal Presentation- Spring 2008 Final Presentation- Spring 2008

Table of ContentsTable of Contents

AbstractIntroduction

-Statement of the Problem-Review of Related Literature (recent sources)

-Statement of the HypothesisMethod

-Participants (N)-Instrument(s)

-Experimental Design-Procedure

ResultsDiscussion

ImplicationsReferences

Appendix (ces)(Tables, Graphs, Questionnaires, Surveys, Tests etc.)

New York City is a ‘melting pot.’ The culture of the city has been shaped by centuries of immigration, the city's size and variety, and its status as the cultural capital of the United States.

”There are 8 million people in New York. According to the census, the city has the greatest number of foreign-born residents at 2.8 million, 36% of the city's population. Of that total, 44% entered the country in the past decade” (Associated Press, 2002).

Introduction

Statement of the Problem:

Our society has become very diversified over time, however hate crimes still exist.

We must educate our youth by advocating social awareness, acceptance and respect for diversified cultures, and in return, increase cultural tolerance

early on.

Review of Related Literature:

Strategies to Advocating Social Awareness, Acceptance, and Respect for Diversified

Cultures:

Damm (2006); Edwards (2001); Wade (2001); Meier (2003)

Politics and Policies

Fuller (2003); Powell (2003); Karst (2003); Pohan & Aguilar (2001)

Instructional Strategies in Advocating Social Awareness, Acceptance, and Respect for

Diversified Cultures will Increase Cultural Tolerance for Students in

Grade 3 in The B.C. School.

Research Hypothesis:

Participants (N)

• 8-9 Years old

• 12 females and 2 males

• 2 of each:

• Caucasian

• African- American

• Asian

• Hispanic

Methods

• Mixed Heritage

• European

• “Other”

• 14 third grade students from two classrooms in a New York City Public Elementary School, located in Brooklyn.

Instruments (S)

• Parental consent form

• Pre-Test survey/questionnaire - January 2008

• Post-Test survey/questionnaire- May 2008

• Self-created questionnaire

• This study can be considered the pilot study.

• To date, there are no reliability and validity coefficients.

Experimental Design

• The participants come from two groups (two separate classrooms).

• The groups are randomly assigned.

• Both groups will be pre-tested.

• Only one group will be exposed to a treatment.

• Both groups will be post-tested.

This Action Research Project uses the Quasi-Experimental Design known as Nonequivalent Control Group Design.

O X O1

O X O

2

Procedure

January 2008- Pre-test administered to students and additional cultural

awareness unit begins.

December 2007- Parental Consent forms handed out.

January- May 2008: Each Friday, a student will have a chance to teach the

class about their family’s culture and traditions. They will

bring food, sing a song, play a game, traditional clothing, etc

After each student has had their turn, the class will have a “Diversity party” where they celebrate everyone’s cultures with food, music, etc.

May 2008- Post-test administered. Data analyzed.

* Students #’s 4, 5, 11, & 13 were not present for post-test and are not counted in statistical analysis.

Friends from different cultures

0123456789

Students Surveyed

Nu

mb

er o

f diff

eren

t cu

lture

s

Pre-test

Post-test

• 4 out of 10 (40%) of the students had more friends from different cultures than previously.

You have friends who are: (Circle as many as apply)

* Caucasian * African American * Hispanic * Middle Eastern *

* Asian * Caribbean * Mixed Heritage * European * Other *

• 1 Student added 3 more groups (3 on the pre-test, 6 on the post-test)

• 2 Students added 2 more groups.

• 1 student added 1 more group.

** *

*

*

How often do you feel you have experienced such discrimination or unfair treatment by your classmates ?

* Students #’s 4, 5, 11, & 13 were not present for post-test and are not counted in statistical analysis.

1- Never 2- Rarely 3- Sometimes 4- Often

50% of students (5 out of 10) stated that they felt less discriminated against between the pre-test and post-test.

• Three students’ answers went from 2 to 1

•Two students’ answers went from 3 to 2

How often students felt discriminated against by their classmates

0

1

2

3

4

Students

Op

tio

n c

ho

sen

on

Lik

ert

Sca

lePre-Test

Post-Test

(3 of these students were from the class with the additional unit)

(1)

Martin Luther King Jr.

(2)

Rosa Parks

(3)

Harriet Tubman

(4)

John F. Kennedy

(5)

Mahatma Ghandi

(6)

Mao Tse Tung

(7)

Nelson Mandela

(8)

Benazir Bhuto

Which of the following important figures have you learned about?

 Students * Name

Pre-test Post-test

Rosie 1 5 5

Vicky 2 3 4

Kayla 3 4 6

Tanya 6 5 6

Chiu 7 5 7

Sally 8 3 6

Rosa 9 3 6

Nina 10 6 6

Giselle 12 3 4

Lisa 14 1 3

Average 4 5

* Students #’s 4, 5, 11, & 13 were not present for post-test and are not counted in statistical analysis.

8 out of 10 (80%) of students gained knowledge about prominent world

figures!

• On the pre-test, the students had knowledge of an average of 4 of these important people.

• On the post-test, the students had an knowledge of an average of 5 of these important people.

(5 of these students were from the class that had the additional diversity unit.)

CorrelationDoes the amount of Cultural Awareness Instruction affect the level of comfort the students are around their classmates?

The results showed positive correlation coefficients.

rxy = 0.880. This shows that the amount of cultural awareness instruction the students received, affected the level of comfort the students had around their peers.

“Line of best fit”

Analysis

14 data pairs (x,y):( 2.00 , 2.00 ); ( 2.00 , 4.00 ); ( 3.00 , 3.00 ); ( 0.00 , 0.00 ); ( 0.00 , 0.00 ); ( 4.00 , 3.00 ); ( 3.00 , 3.00 ); ( 3.00 , 3.00 ); ( 2.00 , 3.00 ); ( 3.00 , 3.00 ); ( 0.00 , 0.00 ); ( 3.00 , 4.00 ); ( 0.00 , 0.00 ); ( 2.00 , 3.00 ); y = a + bx where: a= 0.341 ( a = 0.23 ) b= 0.971 ( b = 0.12 ) degrees of freedom = 12r = 0.880 (p = 0.000)

How knowledge affects comfort

0

1

2

3

4

5

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Knowledge gained

Com

fort

leve

l aro

und

peer

sknow ledge

comfort

* http://www.physics.csbsju.edu/cgi-bin/stats/QF_form.sh?nrow=14

Question #37- Students’ self-assessment about how much they have learned about their peers

(1)

Nothing

(2)

I know the basics of their culture or religion.

(3)

I know the basics of both their culture and religion

(4)

I know about their cultural holidays and the belief of their

religion.

* Students #’s 4, 5, 11, & 13 were not present for post-test and are not counted in statistical analysis.

Amount of knowledge students have about their peer's cultures

0

1

2

3

4

Ro

sie

1

Vic

ky 2

Kay

la 3

Tan

ya 6

Ch

iu 7

Sal

ly 8

Ro

sa 9

Nin

a 1

0

Gis

elle

12

Lisa

14

Students

Op

tio

n o

n S

urv

ey

Pre-Test

Post-Test

• 40% of students’ answers increased.

• 40% of students’ answers stayed constant.

Question #38: Does diversity make America Stronger? Why?

“Variety is the spice of life”

“Or else we would be so flat and boring! My friends are so colorful!”

“We can Learn from other viewpoints”

“Without diversity, we would not understand other cultures and traditions. Such understanding is extremely valuable, especially as we try to work towards peace.”

“Because we all need to get along”

“We are all good people”

Question #39: How would you define “diversity” in America?

“Diversity means different types of people which means a broader range of abilities”

“Many ideas, many opinions, many ways to do things”

“Many cultures and religions”

“People living together peacefully. People come from different backgrounds and learn from one another” “All different colors,

religions, cultures are accepted”

Threats to Validity

Internal Validity:

• History

• Testing/Pre-test Sensitization

• Instrumentation

• Multiple group threats

• Selection-Maturation Interaction

• Mortality

External Validity:

• Generalizable Conditions

• Confounding Variables

• Experimenter Effects

Implications

Although the data shows some increase in awareness of diversified cultures,

• There is no overwhelming proof that such a unit plan can fully make these changes.

• It may take more time to achieve better results.

• Maybe the teacher did not spend enough time, daily, on a balanced multi-cultural curriculum- outside of the additional unit plan.

•We don’t know what is going on in the children’s homes.

•Less than 15 participants- Not generalizable to population.

•Whatever the cause, because of these findings there is need for additional research.

References

O’Connor Petruso, S. (2008, February). Descriptive Statistics. Seminar in Applied Theory and Research II. Course at Brooklyn College Graduate School of Education, Brooklyn, New York, USA.

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