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Essay / Multicultural Social Studies - 1956
Multicultural Social StudiesMore than ever before in our nation's educational history, multicultural education has become important. Due to the ever-increasing diversity in our country, the global economy, and the mobility of our workforce, classroom diversity affects our classrooms. With such a diverse student population, teachers must understand that each student will bring their own knowledge and experiences to the learning environment. The task given to teachers is to prepare students to understand and interact with all the different cultures present or with which the student may come into contact, while teaching them content that does not offend the cultural identity of the student. the student. .Why is multicultural education important? “The Social Studies Curriculum Standards (NCSS, 1994b) support the belief that students should be helped to construct a pluralistic perspective based on diversity. This perspective respects differences in opinions and preferences, race, religion, gender, class, ethnicity and culture in general. (Hass & Sunal, 2011, p. 304) With the ever-increasing diversity found in this country and the interdependence between different cultures on a global platform, it is important for our students to not only accept these differences , but also to understand the differences. Dr. Geneva Gay says: Multicultural education can ease these tensions by teaching skills in intercultural communication, interpersonal relationships, perspective taking, contextual analysis, understanding alternative points of view and frames of reference. and analyzing how cultural conditions affect values and attitudes. ,beliefs, preferences, expectations and behaviors....... middle of article....../pdf/session3/3.Multiculturalism.pdfBanks, J. (2008). Teaching strategies for ethnic studies. (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson. Cushner, K., McClelland, A., & Safford, P. (1992). Human diversity in education. New York: McGraw-Hill. Fry, T. S. (2000). Multicultural Perspectives Help from pre-service social studies teachers. TheJournal of Critical Inquiry Into curriculum and Instruction. Gay, G.P. (1994). A synthesis of scholarship in multicultural education. Retrieved May 5, 2012 from the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/leadrshp/le0gay.htmHass, ME and Sunal, CS (2011). Social studies for elementary and middle grades. Boston: Pearson. Kostelink, M., Whiren, A., Soderman, A.S. and Gregory, K. (2002). Guiding children's social development: from theory to practice. Albany, New York: Thomson Delmar.