EPSY 2130 Culture and Diversity Lecture Notes PDF

1/12/2025 RESEARCH CYCLE Questions and hypotheses...

1/12/2025 RESEARCH CYCLE Questions and hypotheses EPSY 2130 Gathering and analyzing data Modifying and improving theories based on results Formulation of new and better questions Week 2, Lecture 1 WHAT IS CULTURE? Knowledge, values, attitudes and traditions that guide the behavior of a group of people and allow them to solve the problems of living in their environment CULTURE AND DIVERSITY Each of us is a member of many cultural groups, defined in terms of Geographic region Nationality Race/ethnicity Gender Social class Religion Attitudes, values, traditions, and language Key: Remember there are wide variations within each group American Cultural Diversity Cautions: Interpreting Cultural Differences Many different cultures within every modern country 1. Caution: Children are complex; most research focuses on only Aspects that differ: Rural/urban, rich/poor, level of education one variable at a time (social class, ethnicity, race, or gender) Aspects in common: Values, history, traditions, many common experiences Intersectionality: Overlapping, intersecting social identities Iceberg metaphor for culture shaping each of us in unique ways 1/3 visible signs of culture, the rest hidden and unknown Each student shaped uniquely by cultural group Visible: Costumes, marriage traditions, laws memberships (not just one factor or group) Invisible: Implicit, unstated, unconscious biases and beliefs 2. Caution: Group membership does not define an individual Rules for listening, conducting interpersonal relationships Group membership only one factor (not sole factor) in Cultural influences—widespread, pervasive student’s behaviors 1  1/12/2025 TERMS AND LABELS LET’S TALK ABOUT STEREOTYPES Some common ones…. Terminology evolves – Schemas (we’ll talk more about this later) – help us interpret and understand new information (more Examples: mild -- high incidence; African-American -- Black; Latino/a – Latinx; she/he to efficient in our worlds). This includes people they/them Help us access information in new situations, aid in recall Developed from experience, media, etc. APA: “use the terms that individuals and/or communities use to describe themselves, their experiences, and their practices.” Can be good…. And can be bad… Oversimplified Based on limited data What Is Prejudice? Prejudice: Pre-judgement or irrational generalization about a group of people STEREOTYPE THREAT Based on beliefs, emotions, actions – cultural values Bias – prejudicial preference or action Stereotype threat (short video link) “apprehensiveness about confirming a stereotype” Can be positive or negative (usually negative attitudes) The extra emotional and cognitive burden that your performance in an academic situation might confirm a stereotype Racial prejudice (racism) - pervasive, not confined to any group that others hold about you Begins to develop at an early age Example: stereotype that girls are not good at math; girl feels anxious about solving difficult math problems in class Personal, social, and societal factors contribute Can affect any group in any stereotypical situation Human tendency toward us/them or in-group/out-group Stereotype threat and school achievement Prevents students from performing their best More likely to make favorable attributions about ourselves and less favorable to others Interferes with attention, working memory, learning in the subject Stereotypes: Schemas that organize what you know, believe, feel about a group (including prejudiced beliefs) Decreases connections to and value of that subject Often based on incomplete, limited, biased information Likely contributes to achievement gap Short-Term and Long-Term Effects Short-term: Poor test performance SOCIAL CLASS AND SES Example: Lower math performance for women and African Americans when stereotype threat is present Possible explanations Social Class reflects a group’s wealth, prestige, and power in society (low to high) Performance-avoidance goals (trying to avoid looking dumb) Classism: some groups feeling they are better Adoption of self-handicapping strategies like procrastinating Socioeconomic Status (SES): A term used by sociologists for variations in wealth, power, control over resources, and prestige Decrease in interest/engagement in the task Determined by several factors (not just income) and often overpowers other cultural differences Long-term: Disidentification 5 levels Feeling disconnected, less motivated, withdrawn Combating strategies:Value diversity, teach growth mindset In research with school age students, we frequently used Free or Reduced Price Lunch (FRL) as a rough indicator Help students believe learning and intelligence can be improved (growth mindset) of SES; zip code analysis another possibility 2  1/12/2025 SES, ACHIEVEMENT, HEALTH & STRESS SES and academic achievement are moderately correlated High SES students of all ethnic groups show higher average levels of achievement on test scores and stay in school longer than low-SES students The longer the child is in poverty, the stronger the impact on achievement Poverty a special case of risk (prenatal health, lack of access to preventative services, dangerous environments, violence, high mobility, family stress, greater exposure to toxins, etc.), Chronic stress = attention, growth, health Causes of lower achievement? Complex… (health, environment; low expectations; peer groups – Resistance culture, lack of high quality preschool/low home resources; summer learning loss; worse schools and teachers). Also teachers’ negative assumptions (avoid calling on them in class, set lower standards, accept poor work), low academic self-concept (learned helplessness, chronic inequality) Peer Influences and Resistance Cultures Home Environment and Resources Students at schools with peers from middle to high-income families more likely to Explanations for lower achievement of students in poverty attend college Lack of access for poor families to high-quality preschool care Children read less, watch TV more, access books less Students in high-poverty schools more likely to have friends who drop out Greater academic setbacks from summer breaks May be part of resistance culture (resist school achievement; resist acting “middle Begin school 6 months behind in reading skills class”) Lose ground in reading skills each year, especially in summer Linked to poor Latino American, Native American, African American groups and Tracking and lower quality schools poor White students May be tracked into “low-ability” or “vocational” classes Textbook authors: Educators need to be “equity literate,” make school an inclusive Often at schools with few resources, inexperienced teachers, more likely to be teaching place, not inviting resistance out of their area (compounding risk) Extreme Poverty: Homeless and Highly Mobile Students Summer Learning Loss 1.4 million homeless students in U.S. Summer Learning Loss Up to 25% of students in some states http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZolcNG3GVCs Inevitable physical, social, learning difficulties 75% in elementary, 85% in high school perform below grade level in reading and math Poverty and school achievement 44% of U.S. children live in low-income families or in poverty Increasingly lower achievement the longer a child remains in poverty Growing achievement gap between privileged children and children in poverty 3  1/12/2025 Teaching Students Who Live in Poverty Race and Ethnicity Learn about effects of poverty on student learning Ethnicity is culturally transmitted behavior; cultural heritage shared by a group of people (history, traditions, religion, etc.) Set, maintain high expectations for the students Race is socially constructed category based on appearances, ancestry – shared physical Avoid feeling sorry, making excuses, expecting less characteristics such as skin color Develop caring teacher-student relationships with them Race and ethnicity : both primarily social constructions Talk to them out of class, attend their sports events Minority group: group of people who have been socially disadvantaged, discriminated against Build their learning skills, self-regulation skills Not always a numerical minority of the population Teach how to organize, focus attention, manage conflict African American/Black minority group = majority population in some areas Pay attention to health problems, absences, tardies Development of one’s identity is complex- race-ethnicity part of this development (use “race-ethnicity” when reporting in many studies) Assess their knowledge; build on what they know Ethnic and Racial Differences in School Ethnicity and Schools Achievement Minority students rapidly increasing in population – Achievement gaps narrowing, ethnic groups gaining on standardized achievement tests Conflicts can arise from differences between teachers and students in culture-based Greater gaps exist between wealthy and poor students beliefs, values, and expectations Concerns for students of color, students of poverty – Opportunity Gap Conflicts may be about below-the-surface differences (misunderstandings common) Problem of their scores being compared to test scores of middle-class Whites (viewed as the norm), who have more opportunities Lower high school completion rates (varying across ethnicities) 89% white, 79% A-A, 81% Hispanic, 92% API, 74% Native American Consistently lower test scores – legacy of discrimination, cultural mismatches Ladson Billings refers to this as educational debt (history of underinvestment and discrimination). Need for teachers to focus on successes of ethnic students The Legacy of Inequality From Prejudice to Discrimination Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, 1954 ersus Discrimination – acting on one’s beliefs/feelings of prejudice Parents and concerned families filed suit Unequal treatment toward categories of people Ruling: “Separate but equal” schools inherently unequal Prevalent toward Native Americans, African Americans, and Latinos in U.S. education system Segregation became illegal; integration mandated Teachers often unaware of own prejudice Affects their expectations of students, interpretations of behaviors Problems of legally mandated integration Can result in offending parents, damaging educational outcomes Many Whites left integrated schools, moved away Causes students to feel less valued, overlooked, excluded, unmotivated Many schools more segregated today than 60 years ago Leads to paths away from programs in science and engineering Racial segregation associated with economic segregation Recognized even by very young children Resegregation into low-ability tracks in some integrated schools 4  1/12/2025 BROWN EYES, BLUE EYES EXPERIMENT JANE ELLIOT, 1968 Gender in Teaching and Learning A lesson on discrimination Terminology related to sex and gender Power of our expectations of our students and our Gender: Traits, behaviors deemed proper for males/females students’ expectations of themselves Sex: Biological differences in males/females http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divi Gender identity: Sense of self as male, female or neither (nonbinary); beliefs one has about ded/etc/view.html (video link) gender roles and attributes continuum Gender roles: Behaviors and characteristics that culture stereotypically associates with being a man or a woman (as early as age 2) https://vimeo.com/453292679 Sexual orientation: multidimensional; sexual identity, sexual attraction and/or sexual behavior LGBTQ: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elliott Important for teachers to provide equitable education for all: address harassment and bullying, Want to see more? make spaces gender inclusive, treating students’ with respect http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html Gender Identity Gender Bias in Curriculum Materials and Media Gender identity not as simple as realizing you’re male or female Gender bias: Different views of men, women, non-conforming people; often For some, may be different from sex assigned at birth favoring one gender over the other Transgender individuals and those who behave in gender-expansive, gender Publishers’ role: Guidelines to prevent gender bias nonconforming, or gender atypical ways Represent males/females equally (more men in titles and illustrations; still behave in stereotypical ways) Vulnerable to stigma, discrimination, lower self-beliefs Defy gender stereotypes May feel less confident in academic capabilities Teacher screening necessary for classroom materials For some, gender identity forms early, remains permanent Presence of gender bias in TV, movies, other media Bias of prominence of white male characters Biased depiction of women in hypersexualized, underpowered positions Gender Bias in Teaching Guidelines: Avoiding Gender Bias in Teaching Studies about gender bias in teaching Check textbooks, other teaching materials for gender bias More interactions with boys (including negative ones) Be vigilant about your own comments, teaching practices Ask more questions, give more feedback, and offer the more specific/valuable comments High-achieving White girls receive least teacher attention Avoid limiting options for male/female students in any class/school activities Boys favored in teachers’ perceptions of math competence Use gender-free language International concern: Boys’ underachievement at schools Provide counter-stereotypic male/female role models Schools not serving boys? 90% of elementary teachers are women Provide opportunities for all students to do complex, technical work Single sex classrooms (??) (results – equivocal. It depends) Best solution: Good teaching Goal – successful learning for everyone; pros and cons to gender-segregated approaches No boy-specific or girl-specific teaching strategies 5  1/12/2025 Sexual Orientation Creating Culturally Compatible Classrooms Internal mechanism directing one’s sexuality Multicultural education—equity in education of all students Separate from gender identity; distinct aspect of development. Estimates: 84.4% teens identify as heterosexual, 2.5% as gay/lesbian, 8.7% bisexual, 4.5% not sure Ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious, economic, gender Same-sex activity during adolescence—8% of boys, 6% of girls Five dimensions of multicultural education (Banks 2014) 4% of adolescents identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual Content integration Identity development of sexual orientation (can be flexible) Stages: Feeling different, feeling confused, then acceptance – can change over one’s lifetime Knowledge construction process Discrimination against sexual minority youth Prejudice reduction More likely victims of aggression, bullying (from staff too) greater risk to attempt suicide. Federal protections (Title IX) – safe and nondiscriminatory environment Empowering school culture and social structure Teachers: make support visible, listen, affirm, connect students to resources (or experts) Equity pedagogy Deal with harassers; check back with the individual No general agreement about “best” approach Culturally Relevant Pedagogy Sociolinguistics and Cultural Discontinuity Teaching that rests on 3 propositions (Ladson-Billings 1995) Sociolinguistics: Study of formal and informal rules of conversations 1. Students must experience academic success within cultural groups 2. Must develop/maintain their cultural competence Pragmatics of the classroom – when, where, how to communicate 3. Must develop critical consciousness, challenge status quo (critique Participation structures – rules for how to take part in a given social norms and values) classroom activity Three steps for culturally relevant pedagogy (Delpit 2003) What teachers can do 1. Believe in the children; believe all children are capable Make clear, explicit communication rules 2. Provide rigorous instruction, integrated across disciplines, Explain, demonstrate appropriate behavior connected to students’ lives and culture Respond to students with consistency 3. Know your students; help them value excellence Cultural discontinuity: Mismatch between communication norms in home culture and school culture Lessons for Teachers: Teaching Every Student Know yourself, your identity, background, values Know your students, the legacies they bring Work with students and their parents inside/outside school Respect your students; accept their strengths/limitations Build their self-images (respecting their cultures) Teach your students – strong emphasis on academics Beware how hidden biases creep in Hold high expectations and provide caring support Focus on meaning and understanding, not just basic skills Instruct students directly about how to be students 6