Students who have math and science skills are more likely to go to college than students who do not. Educators can empower students from disadvantaged backgrounds with interests and skills in these areas that will positively impact their future potential.
Multicultural Adaptations
Multicultural adaptations to math and science instruction help to bridge gaps that may exist between students' cultural backgrounds and academic content. There are many ways to adapt math and science curriculum:
- Assess the learning styles of students and adapt instruction accordingly.
- Teach the math and science contributions of people from multiple cultural backgrounds, such as Arab and Mayan contributions to numbers and astronomy.
- Incorporate experiential activities.
- Emphasize the real-world applications and benefits of the lesson content.
- Create an enthusiastic environment where students have positive experiences with math and science.
- Understand your own biases about who is or is not able to comprehend math and science, and provide opportunities to all learners.
Links to Relevant Sites
4000 years of Women in Science
Complete with photographs and biographies, this site indexes famous female scientists for the past 4,000 years.
Exploratorium
Focused on students who learn best by hands-on experiences, this site provides teachers with many activities online as well as further references that will help them help their students learn to appreciate science.
NASA
This site allows teachers and students to explore the world of space travel. Also check out the biographical sketches of NASA employees.
Multicultural Environmental Education Activities
Whether they are teaching about the ozone layer or instructing their students to avoid littering, teachers will find many multiculturally sensitive ideas on this site.
American Indian Science and Engineering Society
This organization helps to provide resources for American Indians and Alaska Natives who are interested in exploring the fields of science and engineering.
Checklist for Multicultural Mathematics
This site includes questions that can be helpful for anyone integrating multiculturalism into a math curriculum.
Math Forum
This site has many very useful ideas and links relevant to math education and multicultural approaches.
Multicultural Math Fair
This website includes many activities that integrate multiculturalism into mathematics.