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WELCOME
Cultural Recognition and Sensitivity Using the
Natural Inquirer in Conservation Education Dr.
Babs McDonald, Dr. Mike Mengak, Michelle Andrews
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Babs and Michelle
Social Scientist, FS, WO, RD, SQS Staff
Research Coordinator, UGA ASCD certified
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• Last week Babs mentioned her philosophy of
  learning- We learn as a community and that we
  all have things to teach and things to learn.
• You will see later that this philosophy is
  actually in line with a culturally sensitive
  perspective.

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Overview of Course

• Guidelines
• What is Culture?
• Why Is Culture Important in Learning?
• How to use the Natural Inquirer while being
  culturally sensitive?
• Evaluation

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Guidelines/Reminders

• We cannot generalize
• Techniques can be adapted
• YOU will make this even better by your
  participation

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Objectives-Week Two

• Participants will recognize the role culture
  plays in everyday life.
• Participants will explore and understand the role
  of culture in educational settings.
• Participants will recognize how they bring their
  own culture into any given situation.

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(No Transcript)
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Culture n.   The totality of socially
transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs,
institutions, and all other products of human
work and thought. Culture. (n.d.). The
American Heritage Dictionary of the English
Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved April 04,
2007, from Dictionary.com website
http//dictionary.reference.com/browse/Culture
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Sub-Culture - a group of people who share a
distinctive set of cultural beliefs and behaviors
that differ in some significant way from that of
the larger society.
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Background
Cultural sensitivity and recognition A practice
by educators who provide responsive instruction
to diverse classrooms recognizing that learning
can be facilitated or inhibited for students with
differing ethnic or cultural backgrounds due to
how information is presented and tasks are
conducted.

• Statistics regarding Gap

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What You Cant See!
Who Are You??
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Lived in 10 states and 2 countries
Hiker
Vegetarian
I have a sister with Down Syndrome
I am of Ukrainian and Byelorussian heritage
Detroit Tigers Fan
Army Veteran
Bread Maker
Dancer-Contra, Folk International
French Speaker
Writer-9 books
Scuba Diver
Bi-Racial Marriage
Vegan
Rower
Artist
Beer Maker
Beatles Fan
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Questions for Discussion

• What did this exercise tell us about our small
  group?
• How are we all different?
• How are we all alike?
• How do we apply this to an educational setting?

Good job!
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Why Is Culture Important to Us in Conservation
Education?

• We as folks who care about the environment would
  not want our message lost we want future
  generations of environmentally aware adults.
• We also want to increase awareness of careers in
  Natural Resources, especially among minority
  populations.

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Ecology Connection

• How would you relate cultural recognition to
  ecology?
• Ecosystem
• Community
• Populations
• Members
• Individual

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Eight Principles of Ecology
Adaptation Behavior Diversity Growth and
Development Emergent Properties Limits Regulation
Energy Flow
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Adaptation

• Minorities have had to adapt in the classroom
  to a European model of education. However, as
  classrooms become more diverse, educators will
  need to adapt teaching techniques to embrace a
  more multicultural classroom.

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Behavior

• Behavior among humans is based primarily on
  experience or nurture which in a large part comes
  from our cultural heritage.

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Diversity

• Ecology teaches us that a healthy ecosystem is
  diverse. Likewise a healthy learning environment
  will thrive from the diversity within.

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Growth and Development

• Students are growing and developing at differing
  rates. Social development could be culturally
  influenced.

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Emergent Properties

• Just as a system (take for example the
  respiratory system in an organism) is more than
  the sum of its parts, a whole classroom can be
  viewed as more than the sum of its parts.

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Limits

• Just as ecological systems can be pushed beyond
  their limits, so can social systems. The
  classroom, or any other learning environment,
  should provide an outlet for individual
  expression without neglecting, degrading, or
  depleting the cultural social systems of others.

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Regulation

• Regulation in ecology is based on feedback. In
  the classroom feedback from students opens up the
  opportunity for dialogue.

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Energy Flow

• Your turn take this ecological principle and
  develop a cultural component.

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Discrimination

• What forms of discrimination can you think of?
• Gender Bias
• Race
• Class
• Religion
• Age
• Disability
• Sexual Orientation
• Which of these could we inadvertently fall prey
  to when in a education context?

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Okay, lets discuss the diversity quiz.
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Quiz for Cultural Sensitivity and Recognition

• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the
  majority of poor children live in
• a. urban areas
• b. suburban areas
• c. rural areas

• 2. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice,
  between 1995 and 2001, the percentage of students
  reporting that they had been a victim of a
  violent crime in school
• increased from 6 to 18
• increased from 18 to 30
• decreased from 25 to 3
• decreased from 10 to 6
  www.ojpusdoj.gov/bjs/cvict_c.htm

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3. What percentage of U.S. toxic waste dumps that
do not comply with Environmental Protection
Agency regulations are found in predominantly
African American or Latino communities? a. 10
b. 50 c. 75 d. 90
4. Which of the following variables most closely
predicts how high someone will score on the SAT
test? a. Race b. Region of residence c.
Family income d. Parents' academic achievement
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5. Compared with schools in which 5 or less of
the students are people of color, how likely are
schools in which 50 or more of the students are
people of color to be over-crowded (25 or more
beyond capacity)? a. equally as likely b.
twice as likely c. four times as likely d. six
times as likely
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• 6. Children raised by single mothers attain, on
  average
• 4 fewer years of education than children raised
  by two parents
• b. 2 fewer years of education than children
  raised by two parents
• c. the same level of education as children raised
  by two parents
• d. 2 more years of education than children raised
  by two parents

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7. 97 of all students in public high schools
regularly hear homophobic comments from peers.
What percentage report hearing homophobic remarks
from school staff or faculty? a.5 b.27 c.53
d.74
8. What percentage of the world population
regularly accesses the Internet? a. 2 b. 15
c. 29 d. 51 www..internetworldstats.com/stats
.htm 1,244,449,601
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9. According to the U.S. Department of Education,
about 61 of public school students in the U.S.
are white. What percentage of public school
teachers are white? a. 61 b. 73 c. 87 d.
99
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Answers to Quiz

• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the majority
  of poor children live in rural areas.
• 2. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice,
  between 1995 and 2001, the percentage of students
  reporting that they had been a victim of a
  violent crime in school decreased from 10 to
  6.
• 3. What percentage of U.S. toxic waste dumps
  that do not comply with Environmental Protection
  Agency regulations are found in predominantly
  African American or Latino communities? 75

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Answers to Quiz

• 4.Which of the following variables most closely
  predicts how high someone will score on the SAT
  test? Family income
• 5. Compared with schools in which 5 or less of
  the students are people of color, how likely are
  schools in which 50 or more of the students are
  people of color to be over-crowded (25 or more
  beyond capacity)? four times as likely
• 6. Children raised by single mothers attain, on
  average
• the same level of education as children
  raised by two parents.

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Answers to Quiz

• 7. 97 of all students in public high schools
  regularly hear homophobic comments from peers.
  What percentage report hearing homophobic remarks
  from school staff or faculty? 53
• What percentage of the world population regularly
  accesses the Internet? 2
• 9. According to the U.S. Department of
  Education, about 61 of public school students in
  the U.S. are white. What percentage of public
  school teachers are white? 87

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Discussion

• What did this quiz tell you about yourself?
• What did you learn about yourself?
• Did you find yourself making any assumptions?

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Question to Ponder What would you say is a
culture conflict?
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5-7 minutes
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Question to Ponder What would you say is a
culture conflict?
Did you realize you probably experience culture
conflict everyday?
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Culture Conflicts

• Culture conflicts or discontinuities can take
  many different forms, some of which hold the
  potential to adversely affect teacher-student
  relationships, the learning process, and student
  outcomes.
• (Protheroe, Barsdate, 1991)

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Areas in Which Culture Conflict Occurs in
Learning Environments

• Social Structures Unique ways of organizing
  people to participate in learning events
• Cognitive Styles analytical vs. holistic
  patterns
• Non-Verbal Communication Expressing emotions,
  proximity to others
• Verbal Communication language, and ways of
  talking
• Acculturation the transition of adopting a new
  culture.
• (side note, assimilation is not the same as
  acculturation)
• 
  
• 
  (Protheroe, N.,
  Barsdate, K., 1991)

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Culture Conflict
Verbal Communication Native Americans have what
is considered by the predominate culture in the
U.S. long wait periods between one speakers
comments or questions and the next speakers
response. Mainstream classroom culture is a take
the floor, call attention to oneself style.
(Protheroe, N., Barsdate, K.,1991)
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Personal Culture
Remember these two ladies?
Anyone confused about what their hand gestures
mean?
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Personal Culture/Culture Conflict

• The thumbs up sign means one in Germany.
• The thumbs up sign is vulgar in Iran.
• The ok sign is a money sign in Japan.
• The ok sign means zero in France.
• The ok sign is vulgar in Greece.
• The ok sign is obscene in Spain.
  (http//soc302.tripod.com/soc_302rocks/id6.html)

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Personal Culture

• Our own culture can be quite subtle.
• Try this next week to look for culture conflicts.
• Our demographic scene is changing and will
  continue to do so.
• We want to be successful conservation and/or
  formal educators, therefore awareness of our own
  culture will facilitate us in being so.
• You are to be applauded for your participation in
  this training, for no doubt you are already on
  the path of cultural recognition and sensitivity!

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Principles of Inclusion

• 1. Manage your own stereotypes and assumptions.
• 2. Share membership with all members of your
  team.
• 3.Promote Sensitivity, respect, inclusion and
  change.
• No doubt that is in part of why you are all here.

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Why Look at Culture In Regard to Education?

• John Dewey over 60 years ago emphasized that
  teaching and learning must be connected with the
  students experience (Experience and education,
  1938).
• Our culture is our experience. It often is the
  lens through which we view the world.

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General Education in the U.S.

• Currently what we are doing is not working for
  every child.
• How do we know?

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For Every 100 Kindergartners(U.S. Bureau of the
Census, 2000)
24-Year-Olds Latinos Blacks Whites Asians
Graduated From High School 62 87 91 94
Completed at least some college 29 54 62 80
Obtained at least a bachelors degree 6 16 30 49
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ReadingSuccess in Life and Good Environmental
Awareness

• In addition, current trends predict that when
  these white kindergartners are 17, over 95
  percent will be in high school reading at a 12th
  grade level while 25 percent of their black peers
  will have dropped out or, if still in school,
  will read at an 8th grade level. (DAmico, 2001)

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Economic Impact
U.S. Census Bureau, 2005
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What Students Need Resources for Closing the
Gap

• Access to Challenging Curriculum and Instruction
• High Quality Teachers
• High Expectations
• Extra Supports
• Williams, B.
  (2003). Closing the Achievement Gap A Vision
  
  for Changing Beliefs and Practices,
  2nd Edition

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• Educationearning power
• A one size fits all approach does not work
  regardless of the setting (2003, p. 38).
• We need to connect the experience of diverse
  cultures with learning, but how?
• Williams, B. (2003). Closing the Achievement
  Gap A Vision for Changing Beliefs
  and Practices, 2nd Edition

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Next Module

• Participants will learn techniques that are
  easily applied in any educational setting that
  are culturally sensitive.