An Educational Psychology Of Methods In Multicultural Education

Designed to appeal to all educators, this book was written to help prospective educators address socio-cultural questions, ideas, issues, and curiosities they encounter in multicultural education.

This book presents comprehensive approaches to teacher preparation and discusses the nature of classroom management in a way that equips prospective educators with a broad array of practical tools to prepare them for unexpected challenges in instruction, management, discipline, assessment, transition, and daily routine and structure. The information will lead prospective educators and new teachers to explore their own philosophies of classroom management, discipline, and teaching in general as they learn to implement best professional practices that will help them develop professionally and ethically to become the next generation of great teachers.

The volume 3 of this series is designed to present educators with current research and emerging issues in teaching, learning and motivation in a multicultural context. The book is separated into four sections. In the introduction section we have outlined some of the current issues and recent thoughts about the nature of learning, teaching, and school reforms from a multicultural perspective.

This volume serves as a handbook for psychology professors around the globe who aim to internationalize and diversify their courses and curricula, and who seek innovative ideas to enrich their teaching. The work provides an overview of psychology’s globalization, and offers a broad range of suggestions for psychology instructors aiming to internationalize their undergraduate and graduate courses. Topics covered here include practical tips to diversify specific courses, such as abnormal psychology, lifespan development, and psychotherapy, and innovative methods of assessment of student learning. Additionally, a number of chapters focus on describing the training of psychologists, and the history and future of psychology education in various nations and regions. Co-edited by five distinguished, international academics, the thirty-five chapters represent each major geographic region of the world, with authors based in nations in Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America. Instructors of cross cultural, cultural, and international psychology and of multicultural education will be especially interested in the book, as will program evaluators, policy makers, and university administrators.

The influence of culture on learning and motivation has been the topic of much research in recent years. Educational and psychological researchers are now aware that the findings of their studies may not apply to other cultures, and that in this age of globalization and multiculturalism it is very important to examine the applicability of psychoeducational constructs to other cultures. Understanding learning and motivational characteristics of students of diverse backgrounds will enable educators to develop appropriate curriculum and teaching strategies to motivate these students. The aim of this book is to present research findings and views of scholars and researchers in the field of motivation and learning, from a multicultural and international perspective. Educators and scholars from different parts of the world have examined recent learning and motivation theories in different cultural contexts in order to explore the dynamics of sociocultural processes affecting student motivation. Others have focused on teaching and learning strategies that are known to be effective with culturally diverse students.

Although cultural diversity in classrooms is hardly a new phenomenon, its influences on teaching and learning are increasingly discussed. Cultural diversity could lead to better learning and democracy outcomes. However, it also poses challenges for educators and schools. For example, research has revealed marked cultural differences in motivation, learning attitudes, thinking styles and school achievement. Attempts have been made to assure teaching and learning quality by designing standardized curricula and giving standardized tests. However, it is questionable whether standardized tests could capture the diverse aptitudes and skills students with different cultural experiences bring to the classroom. It is also question-able whether a standardized curriculum would lead to positive learningoutcomes for all. In 1998, we convened a conference in the University of Hong Kong, and invited experts from different parts of globe to discuss how to apply psychology to enhance learning and teaching quality. Probably because of the cultural diversity of the conference participants, multicultural education emerged as one of the dominant themes in the conference. For example, in the Opening Address, Robert Sternberg argued for the importance of cultural sensitivity in ability testing. In another keynote address, Martin Maehr discussed the implications of motivation research for designing an optimal achievement environment for culturally diverse students. Professor Sternberg’s paper is included in this volume, and Professor Maehr’s article was published in a previous volume we edited (Student Motivation: The Culture and Context of Learning, Plenum, 2001). The contributors of this volume include psychologists and education researchers from Africa, Asia, Australia and North, and some of them have extensive experiences in multicultural education. Despite their diverse cultural and professional background, the contributors agree that to meet the challenges posed by cultural diversity, educators need to have the sensitivity to multiplicity of student abilities in aptitude and achievement assessment.

This book explores how to make teacher preparation more multicultural.