Growing out of the belief that children need to acquire tools that will help them understand and interact with people from different cultures, a study examined the effect of a global education unit about Africa on the images of Africa held by sixth grade students, specifically investigating whether such instruction would reduce existing…

Examines and categorizes multicultural teaching information found in middle school science teacher resource manuals to determine how multicultural information relates to guidelines for teaching in multicultural classrooms. A content analysis of 21 teacher editions provided the data. Contains 37 references. (DDR)

Assesses effects of grade level, teacher liking, influence strategy type, and cultural orientation. Notes that students reported more resistance with increasing age, and ratings of refusal and comparison strategies increased with grade level. Rates reported resistance, refusals, and comparison resistance strategies as less likely in response to a…

Determines whether subjects' aesthetic involvement or story preference would be influenced by the subjects's culture or culture portrayed in text. Finds that level of aesthetic involvement was not significantly influenced by the culture of subject or text. Concludes that subjects prefer stories reflecting their own culture but are capable of…

Analyzes the conversations and writings of 2 ethnically diverse populations of fifth-grade children (ages 10 and 11) in response to the powerful and difficult themes contained in two award-winning children's books. Discusses the child's voice; the teacher's role as cultural mediator; responses at the literal level; reading between the lines;…

Tells the story of three African American children's responses to literature by and about African Americans, showing the importance of connecting literature to the lives and interests of children. (SR)

The goal of democratic understanding and civic values is within the history/social science framework. The strand of national identity falls under the goal of democratic understanding and civic values. This research project found that national identity can be developed among multicultural 5th-grade students through the teaching of national symbols,…

Outlines characteristics of effective alternative programs for at-risk middle schools students, noting organizational, instructional, and interpersonal components. Describes a successful drop-out prevention program which operates as a school-within-a-school for sixth- through eighth-grade students, emphasizing multicultural education and…

Indian, Japanese, and Hispanic songs were taught to sixth grade students. Results indicated significant preference differences between the taught and untaught selection of the treatment genres. Although instruction increased preference for unfamiliar non-Western songs, there was no transfer of preference to untaught pieces of the same genre.…

This study collected baseline data on the nature of elementary and middle-grade students' reading engagement level, locus of control, and stage of ethnic identity development (based on J. A. Banks' typology of ethnic identity), and to determine the extent to which selected literature and the instructional interaction in these students' classrooms…

Examines a program for newly arrived, non-English-speaking immigrant children in a California city. Findings from a fourth-grade class demonstrate how a nurturing setting, culturally flexible teaching approach, linguistic and cultural validation, and a valued spatial environment contribute to newcomer students' success. (SLD)

The purpose of this study was to examine the cultural content practices of middle school teachers. A survey was mailed to 94 teachers and 5 intern teachers in one Southeastern United States urban school system; 71 percent responded. A survey with Likert-type scaled responses and qualitative questions was used. The public school system was selected…

Two studies examined the effectiveness of the Multicultural Reading and Thinking Program (McRAT), in which teachers infuse higher-order thinking strategies and performance-based assessment into classroom instruction. Four broad categories of thinking skills are included: analysis, comparison, inference/interpretation, and evaluation. In the first…

Do social studies textbooks used in U.S. schools provide an unbiased view of other cultures? This research study analyzes five social studies textbook series and 26 children's literature books used as supplementary materials for teaching about Oriental cultures. The instrument used was the Evaluation Coefficient Analysis (ECA) with the focus on…

An in-depth ethnographic study of an upstate New York Middle School in an ethnically polarized community investigated teacher and community response to multicultural literature initiatives. Most of the data for the study came from interviews with and observations of teachers in the school; it was collected mostly over the 1991-92 school year when…