Science and Technology, Teacher Preparation for Diversity

Current Practices

In recent years, policymakers and educators have launched reform movements by creating fundamental shifts in academic standards and accountability policies. Current science education reform in the United States is a response to several major factors. First, the school-aged population in the United States continues to grow more racially, ethnically, socioeconomically, and linguistically diverse. Second, U.S. students have a less than glowing academic track record compared with their international peers. Third, achievement gaps persist among demographic subgroups. Fourth, there is a growing role of science in accountability systems according to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. Finally, the challenge of high academic standards in science for all students is intertwined with the increasing importance of knowledge about science and technology in today's world.

As immigrants, children of color, and children living in poverty come to represent an increasing fraction of the U.S. student population, science classrooms must address the education needs of these children who face the dual challenge of navigating the language and culture of the U.S. mainstream while learning the norms, content, and processes of academic disciplines, such as science. Thus, a vision of reform aimed at academic achievement of all students requires integrating science knowledge with knowledge of student diversity.

In contrast to the shifting demographics in the student population, the teaching profession continues to be dominated by White female teachers. Teachers need not come from the same racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, or SES backgrounds as their students to teach effectively. Given the diversity of students within individual classrooms, matching teachers with students of similar backgrounds is often not feasible. However, teachers of all backgrounds need to become more aware of the cultural and linguistic experiences that nonmainstream students bring to the classroom, and the presence of at least some teachers from nonmainstream backgrounds can help facilitate this process.

Unfortunately, many teachers believe that students from nonmainstream backgrounds are less capable of academic success than mainstream students. These teachers also tend to ascribe problems associated with nonmainstream students' learning to the students' lives outside of school, rather than to events that take place in the classroom. Additionally, the teachers are largely unaware of cultural and linguistic influences on [Page 1905]students' learning, do not consider “teaching for diversity” as part of their job, overlook racial/ethnic and cultural differences in the classroom, accept inequities as a given condition, or actively resist multicultural views of learning.

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