Teaching for Diversity and Learning Structures

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Table of Contents

Ways of Experiencing Diversity
Strategies for Outcome Equality
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Discussion Learning and Cognitive Development
References

Ways of Experiencing Diversity

The term “diversity” is used within the educational community to denote the array of ethnic, gender, linguistic, ability, and cultural differences that can affect the way a student learns. More often than not, students are subject to biased attitudes on the classmates’ and teachers’ part because of the misperception of their differences as either weaknesses or strengths (Groundwater-Smith, Ewing, & Le Cornu, 2011). Educators must recognize the differences as such and confront their prejudice because it can exacerbate the way they teach. In other words, the task of the teacher is to be prepared to stretch their boundaries and step out of their comfort zone; by embracing diversity, teachers treat all students equitably as persons with unique sets of strengths, weaknesses, and learning requirements, not as a fixed collection of ethnically-, culturally-, linguistically-, and gender-determined attributes.

There is a multitude of ways teachers can experience diversity in their classrooms. One of them is the difference in language use, which is a sequent of the family atmosphere and cultural background that is different for every child. Different families can use coded messages and vocabulary perfectly understandable within the family but indecipherable to an outsider. The usage of words can diversify as well: A child can utilize vulgarly and swear words without knowing their meaning. Overall, this variety of discourses constitutes one of the aspects of the diversity of knowing; indeed, a child knows the language (and the world as reflected by the language) differently than every other child. Recognizing the diversity of knowing and molding the children’s language into what is currently accepted as a societal norm without devaluating their difference can be a challenge (Groundwater-Smith, Ewing, & Le Cornu, 2011).

Another way of experiencing diversity is by having children from diverse socio-economic backgrounds in class. There is a whole spectrum of poverty issues currently experienced in Australia, and education is one of the sectors poverty affects the most. The equitability of access stands the strain of unleveraged economic status, remoteness of the students’ places of residence, and whether their families are intact. Although all these factors can shape the children’s educational experience and sometimes disadvantage them in commodity, resource, and motivation terms, regarding them as a group whose behavior is determined by a “culture” of poverty or any status-related “deficits” is a common mistake teachers make (Groundwater-Smith, Ewing, & Le Cornu, 2011, p. 52).

Perhaps the most significant way diversity can be experienced is the difference in the students’ ethnic backgrounds. Ethnic diversity is referred to as the geographical differences of people’s ancestors’ places of origin. Ethnic competence obliges teachers to be aware of every ethnicity and its culture; moreover, teachers have to realize how the ethnic identity of the students correlates and manifests itself about gender, social status, and other variables. Competent teachers successfully eliminate their own biases and encourage students to regard each other holistically. They are aware of and able to successfully handle the issues arising from ethnic diversity, namely, the linguistic and cultural barriers. Those that do not struggle with English may experience cultural clash because they are already accustomed to perceiving the world in concepts different from that of the teacher and other students. The expectations may also differ, which adds to the difficulties they experience while adjusting to the new environment.

In the context of Australia, the issues related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are particularly relevant. Approximately 2.3% of the total population of Australia can be identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander or both, with 38% of them being under the age of 15 (Groundwater-Smith, Ewing, & Le Cornu, 2011). The education-related problems Indigenous people have to face include the difficulty of access and various misperceptions on the part of the public. While such children are brought up in the atmosphere representing the traditional way of upbringing and thus may have different ideas of communication and socialization, it does not justify any occasions of bullying or ostracism that they might experience at school. The teachers’ awareness of the possibility of having indigenous students in class and the necessity to adhere to their learning needs is the key to a successful diversity experience here.

Apart from and in addition to everything said above, a teacher can find they have to manage a gender diverse classroom or one where children differ by their talent/giftedness and abilities. Although some research indicates gender as a factor impacting children’s learning capacities, it is (along with race and class) a socially constructed category (McInerney & McInerney, 2006). This fact stipulates the need to optimize the assessment of and compliance with the needs of every person and calls for sensitivity in teachers. The same applies to the perceptions of giftedness, which may vary from person to person, with disabilities often being regarded as weaknesses. While it is true that inclusive schooling is the preferred approach for most Australian schools, the individual diversity experiences are to a great extent determined by the teachers’ and students’ misconceptions. To optimize these experiences, biases should be avoided whenever possible.

Strategies for Outcome Equality

Approaches to inclusive learning change in line with the shifting demographics, and, logically, some strategies that used to be effective are now dismissed as not complying with the diverse learners’ needs. The attitude of color-blindness, for instance, is not recommended in a diverse context, because instead of facilitating inclusivity and every individual’s empowerment, it endorses a singular approach to all students regardless of their requirements.

Appreciating the individuality of every student and communicating the commitment to comply with everyone’s needs is the key tip to the outcome equality. Another valuable tip is to research the cultures a teacher can encounter in the class and acknowledge the manifestations of culture-specific behaviors. For instance, such action as avoiding eye contact can create a negative impression about a student—unless the teacher is aware that in this student’s culture, a cast-down gaze is a sign of respect.

Some of the strategies about the same goal include:

Providing multiple examples accounting for all perspectives to illustrate the point when transferring the instruction.
Assessing the students’ learning needs and using multiple teaching methods to meet them.

Applying diversity pedagogy theory in terms of:

connecting culture and cognition; and
identifying individual and group learning competencies about culture and using this knowledge to guide decisions (Charteris, 2016).

Creating and maintaining a safe and supportive environment in terms of:

establishing the doable rules;
communicating the commitment and clear expectations to the students and parents;
ensuring these expectations are culturally inclusive; and
ensuring that the students are comfortable in class, both physically and emotionally.

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget maintained that change was an essential process of reality, which was itself a system in perpetual motion. Knowledge, the psychologist argued, is most actively obtained in childhood when human beings learn to attain it, categorize it, and later utilize it (Love & Guthrie, 2011). A person’s cognitive development is how a person learns to reorganize their mental processes as they biologically grow and mentally mature by acquiring experience within their environment. Piaget maintained that seeing the difference between what a person already knows and a new phenomenon this person discovers is a skill essential to cognitive development, and this skill is only gained during childhood. In other words, it is during childhood that a human being learns to learn.

According to Piaget’s theory, there are four stages of cognitive development, namely:

Sensorimotor (from the moment of birth to 2 years old);
Preoperational (2–7 years old);
Concrete Operational (7–11 years old); and
Formal Operational (adolescence to adulthood).

In the first stage of development, children’s reflexive behaviors help them learn to coordinate what they sense and how they act. By physically interacting with objects, children acquire knowledge of the world and start to develop symbolic thinking (attribute certain phenomena with some meaning) towards the end of this stage (Love & Guthrie, 2011). In the second stage, although they have not developed their logical thinking yet and thus are unable to solve complex problems mentally, they acquire speaking skills and use symbolic thinking when playing.

The third stage can be characterized by the use of logic when the children’s reasoning becomes more adequate to particular situations and when they are capable of making inductive conclusions and solving problems verbally. At the last stage, children demonstrate their competence in all domains of cognitive ability, including symbolic, logical, and abstract. They acquire the ability to think through all possible solutions to particular problems and reflect on how they think, which is a metacognitive skill (Armstrong, 2009). Thus, according to Piaget, every person’s cognitive development is a march from a simplistic understanding of reality to more complex, scientific thinking (Love & Guthrie, 2011).

Discussion Learning and Cognitive Development

As the name implies, discussion-based learning is characterized by engaging students in multisided dialogs guided by the teacher’s questions and based on the subject, which is usually chosen by the teacher. At that, the teacher is expected to derive the subjects for discussions from the curricular requirements and the students’ needs, on an equal basis. Such learning is effective in the context of a diverse classroom as it can make the students’ experiences deeply engaging and enhance their cognition appropriately to their developmental stage. The students make their contributions to discussions and can get to know one another, share their opinions, collaborate, and learn.

To organize a lesson with discussion-based learning in view, the teacher develops a plan considering:

The learning goals and desired outcomes;
The discussion subject within the curriculum and the students’ needs;
Questions to open the lesson, transition from one aspect to the other, and close it;
Time management;
Student perspectives assessment before the discussion starts;
Specific examples and subtopics to include to account for each perspective; and
Outcomes assessment (formative and summative, if applicable).

Having outlined a comprehensive lesson plan, the teacher can get creative with extra materials and supplies to keep the discussion moving (Killen, 2016). They can incorporate various media, such as visuals and effective problems (e.g., case studies) to keep it focused and illustrative at the same time. A discussion requires certain experiences because it can be difficult to control at times (Hammond, n.d.). Still, it facilitates maximum engagement when organized properly, which makes it an excellent instructional tool, especially in the context of diversity.

Leading a discussion in a diverse classroom can be complex because it subsumes the recognition and usage of varying perspectives to facilitate maximum heterogeneity and all-round inclusion. A teacher’s role here is multisided: They plan lessons with an emphasis on effective problem-solving and creating an inclusive environment to maximize the learning benefit for each student. A teacher managing a diverse classroom assesses every student’s input to the discussion, the challenges that every one of them might encounter as stipulated by their diversity factors, what behaviors can be expected from them, and which ones can be challenging (Facilitating Effective Group Discussions: Tips, 2016).

Some tips for discussions pertaining specifically to inclusive learning are:

Using inclusive language, which should be not only politically correct and non-offensive but also understandable to every student;
Communicating expectations clearly and distinctly;
Ensuring the students are comfortable with sharing their thoughts by giving them enough time to concentrate and think;
Establishing and communicating a set of rules to encourage respectful listening (e.g., one person speaking at a time, raise your hand if you want to speak out your opinion, no name-calling, no shouting, no backtalk, etc.); and
Asking the dominant speakers to give the others a chance, etc. (Handelsman, Miller, & Pfund, 2006).

Depending on the age group and the cognitive processes a teacher witnesses in their students, the teacher can choose whichever discussion methods apply to the students’ developmental stage while at the same time accounting for their differing strengths as members of a diverse learning community.

There are several practical implications of discussion-based learning that are consistent with Piaget’s cognitive development theory. As discussion subsumes some logical thinking skills possessed by its participants, some of the ways to optimize the discussion based on the needs of the students in a diverse context can be described.

For instance, as diversity subsumes the diversity of language, some students can be expected to operate the terms that are unknown or undecipherable to others; in a respectful discussion atmosphere, they should be given a chance to explain themselves. Similarly, the students should not be expected to have a unified opinion on a particular subject; every viewpoint matters provided it is articulated by the established discussion rules. Asking a student to explain why they think so or how exactly they solved a problem helps keep the discussion dynamic and allows them to demonstrate their metacognitive skills (Finley, 2016).

Another way of implementing discussion-based learning consistent with cognitive development is by using various media and activities to encourage participation. It means that discussions should be focused on the subject of interest to the students, the material should be delivered through multiple media, and a discussion about similar issues should be encouraged. Some of the most efficient tools for this are effective problems or questions to encourage self-thinking and self-discovery.

References

Armstrong, T. (2009). Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom (3rd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Charteris, J. (2016). EDLT 116 MODULE 4: Diversity, Course notes. Web.

Facilitating Effective Group Discussions: Tips. (2016). Web.

Finley, T. (2016). Dialogue Defibrillators: Jump-Start Classroom Discussions!Web.

Groundwater-Smith, S., Ewing, R., & Le Cornu, R. (2011). Teaching: Challenges and dilemmas (4th ed.). Southbank, Victoria: Thomson.

Hammond, K. (n.d.). The disadvantages of classroom discussions. Web.

Handelsman, J., Miller, S., & Pfund, C. (2006) Scientific Teaching: Diversity, Assessment, Active Learning. New York, NY: W.H. Freeman & Co.

Killen, R. (2016). Effective teaching strategies: Lessons from research and practice (7th Ed.). South Melbourne, Victoria: Cengage.

Love, P. G., & Guthrie, V. L. (2011). Understanding and Applying Cognitive Development Theory: New Directions for Student Services. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.

McInerney, D. & McInerney, V. (2006). Educational psychology: constructing learning (4th ed.). Frenchs Forest, New South Wales: Pearson Education.

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