Increasing the Use of Multicultural Education in a Preschool Located in a Homogeneous Midwest Community
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 415 008 PS 026 058 AUTHOR Hartke, Cheryl L. TITLE Increasing the Use of Multicultural Education in a Preschool Located in a Homogeneous Midwest Community. PUB DATE 1997-00-00 NOTE 339p.; Master's Practicum Report, Nova Southeastern University. Many pages in appendices contain small print and photos and may not reproduce well. PUB TYPE Dissertations/Theses - Practicum Papers (043) Reports Evaluative (142) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC14 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Class Activities; Classroom Environment; Course Content; *Cultural Activities; *Cultural Awareness; Cultural Pluralism; Curriculum Development; Curriculum Enrichment; *Day Care; Day Care Centers; *Homogeneous Grouping; Instructional Development; *Multicultural Education; *Preschool Education; Program Effectiveness IDENTIFIERS Multicultural Materials ABSTRACT The inclusion of multicultural education in the curriculum of child care centers is becoming a necessity, particularly in homogeneous communities, as the ethnic make-up of society continues to change. This practicum project implemented and evaluated a strategy intended to increase the use of multicultural education in a middle-to-upper-class suburban child care center with 92 percent Caucasian enrollment. The strategy involved a four-part process: development of resource lists, exploration of teachers' attitudes, improvement of multicultural materials available for use, and increase in teachers' knowledge about diversity, with information provided during weekly meetings. Post-intervention data indicated that, overall, the use of multicultural education in the center increased. Teachers included multicultural activities in all areas of the curriculum on a regular basis, and more materials were available for classroom use as a result of parent donations and the development of a resource room. (Seventeen appendices include an anti-bias checklist, book checklist, a list of broad goals of teaching from a multicultural perspective, and an array of multicultural materials. Contains 24 references and an 86-item bibliography.)(Author/EV) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) \A Thisdocument has been reproduced as received from the person or organization 00 originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. 1.. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. 1-11 Increasing The Use Of Multicultural Education In A Preschool Located In A Homogenous Midwest Community by Cheryl L. Hartke 75E A Practicum Report Presented to the Master's Programs in Life Span Care and Administration in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of the Master of Science NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY 1997 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY C`\"\IA0 L-,,;kke. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Authorship Statement I hereby testify that this paper and the work it reports are entirely my own. Where it has beennecessary to draw from the work of others, published or unpublished, I have acknowledged such work in accordance with accepted scholarly and editorial practice.I give testimony freely, out of respect for the scholarship of other workers in the field and in the hope that my own work, presented here, willearn similar respect. a7 Date Signature of Student 3 2 Abstract Increasing the use of multicultural education in a preschool located in a homogenous Midwest community. Hartke, Cheryl L., 1997. Practicum Report, Nova Southeastern University, Master's Programs In Life Span Care And Administration. Descriptors: Preschool Multicultural Education Curriculum / Preschool Anti-bias Curriculum / Preschool Multicultural Materials / Preschool Teacher Training In Multicultural Education / Preschool Multicultural Literature. The inclusion of multicultural education into the curriculum of child care centers is becoming a necessity as the ethnic make-up of society continues to change. Children living in a homogenous community and also attending a daycare with a homogeneous population must be exposed to multicultural education as part of the daily curriculum. This is essential in order to provide experiences that are not available due to the ethnic make-up of the community and child care center. The author designed and implemented a strategy intended to increase the use of multicultural education through a four part process. The process included: development of resource lists, exploration of teachers' attitudes, improvement of multicultural materials available for use, and increasing teachers' knowledge with information provided during weekly meetings. Overall, the use of multicultural education increased. Teachers included multicultural activities in all areas of the curriculum on a regular basis, more materials are now available for classroom use as a result of parent donations and the development of a resource room. Teachers also have more ideas for planning multicultural activities due to the material included in the appendices of this report. Continuation of the above efforts 4 3 and further training will keep improving the use of multicultural education at the author's center. 4 Table of Contents Chapter Page I. Introduction and Background 6 The setting in which the problem occurred 6 The writer's role in the setting 9 H. The Problem 12 Problem statement 12 Documentation of the problem 14 Analysis of the problem 19 III. Goals and Objectives 22 Goal 23 Objectives 23 IV. Solution Strategy 25 Review of existing programs, models, and approaches 25 Proposed solution strategy 30 Gathering data to measure and document outcome 32 V. Strategy Employed - Action Taken and Results 34 Description of the implementation phase 34 Results of the strategy employed 35 Unanticipated outcomes and roadblocks or difficulties encountered 42 Results of the practicum as compared with literature 43 VI. ConclusionImplications and Recommendations 45 Conclusions 45 Implications and Recommendations 46 5 References 48 Bibliography 50 Appendices A Anti-Bias Materials Checklist 55 B Teacher Questionnaire 59 C Gender Bias Checklist 62 D Book Checklist 64 E Class Coding Observation Form 67 F Broad Goals Of Teaching From A Multicultural Perspective 69 G Attitude And Values Questionnaire 71 H Ten Week Calendar Plan 74 I Book List 80 J Gender Bias 129 K Multicultural Materials 150 L Language And Multicultural Education 155 M Music And Movement 191 N Classroom Aesthetics 229 O Science And Math 237 P Dramatic Play 291 Q Holidays And Multicultural Education 305 7 6 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND The setting in which the problem occurred The child care center in which the practicum was based is located in a middle to upper middle class suburb. It is approximately 15 miles north of a large metropolitan area. It is a private, for profit corporation which began operation in 1965. The center enrolls children from 6 weeks of age through kindergarten during the school year. A school age program for children up to age 10 is added during the months of June, July and August. The child care center operates Monday through Friday from 6:00 A.M. to 6:45 P.M. and is closed only for six major holidays each year. The licensed capacity for the center is 300 children. At the time of this report the daily enrollment fluctuates from 250 to the upper 200's. Tuition fees provide the monetary funding for the infant and preschool program. Tuition along with state funded money allocated through the public school district's auxiliary funds, provides the monetary resources for the chartered kindergarten program. The center opened for business in 1965 with an enrollment of 12 children. Through the years the facility had expanded as the community changed from an agricultural base to an industrial base. Farmland became the sites of new homes and buildings for new types of industry. Sue Bennett (personal communication, December 30, 1996) from the local Chamber of Commerce provided the figures for comparing the residential population to the work-day population. By comparing these figures, the growth of the industrial base was easily seen. At the time of this report, the residential population was 13,000 while the work-day population increased to about 70,000 people. 7 Because of the large number of people coming into the community to work, child care services were in high demand. The Chamber of Commerce also provided information concerning the type and amount of businesses operating within the city. The community had approximately 2,000 businesses, most of which were small, office related or professional work places that provide health services. The community had a few companies which did light, industrial work, but there were no large factories that did heavy, industrial work. The different ethnic groups that were served by the center were very similar to the population of the community in which the center was located. This was determined by comparing the figures provided by the local Chamber of Commerce and the figures that the center provides to the State Department of Education each year. S. Bennett (personal communication, December 30, 1996) from the local Chamber of Commerce provided the information obtained from