Focus On...Diversity in the Classroom

Though few faculty explicitly examine diversity issues in their courses, all of us should consider the diversity that our students bring to our classrooms. Student diversity in terms of gender, race, and ethnicity affects their participation and their success in a number of subtle, yet significant ways. Students bring to our courses varying perspectives on collectivity, patterns of thinking, and styles of communication. By giving thought to these aspects of your pedagogy, you can increase opportunities for success for the full range of diverse students you teach.

Collectivity

Students differ in whether they are individually, relationally, or group focused. Typically, males value solo effort, focus on the task at hand, want to be judged and rewarded on their own merits, and may enjoy competing with others. Generally, female students value relationships, focus on the people as well as the tasks, pay more attention to peers, and may enjoy working in pairs or collaborating with another person.

Race and ethnicity also shape perspectives on collectivity. Students from Eurocentric backgrounds (Whites/Western Europeans) tend to be individually focused, while students from Afrocentric (Blacks/Hispanics, Middle Easterners, Southern Europeans) and Asiocentric (Asians, Native Americans) backgrounds tend to be more relationally or group focused. Highly group-focused students may value teamwork, group harmony, and community.

How can views of collectivity affect your pedagogy? Do you use ice-breaking and relationship-building activities in your courses? Are students required to complete individual or group assignments? Is your class atmosphere based on competition or harmony? Do students in your courses develop a sense of community or engage in community service activities? Can you create options for individual, paired, and teamwork assignments?

Patterns of Thinking

Our disciplines and courses vary in whether they encourage rational thinking based on external evidence or emotional thinking based on personal evidence. Rational thinking emphasizes facts, logic, objective analysis, cause and effect reasoning, the scientific method, and linear patterns. Emotional thinking stresses personal experience, feelings, values, intuition, narrative, holistic perspectives, and circular patterns. If students are not yet deeply imbedded in disciplinary paradigms, their gendered, racial, and ethnic cultural backgrounds may influence the ways in which they think, reason, and provide evidence for claims. Many women, people of color, and those with Southern European backgrounds gravitate toward emotional reasoning, while many men and Northern Europeans prefer rational thinking.

This cultural factor has great influence on what we teach and the ways we teach. What constitutes proof in your classroom? Are stories as well as scientific conclusions considered? Do assignments require objective data collection? Do you expect students to write journals or engage in role playing? Do students outline ideas in a linear fashion? Can they draw visual models or cognitive maps to capture ideas? Do you use cause and effect or true/false exam questions? Do you require personal examples as illustrations? Can students practice both patterns of thinking? Can you develop assignment options that encourage the success of all students, whatever their predominant thinking styles?

Classroom Communication

Styles of communication are highly dependent on culture. Some students are adept at discussion, while others are more reticent to engage in free-flowing exchanges of ideas. Yet others enjoy passionate, confrontational debate. Many female students like discussions in which everyone participates equally and all voices are heard. For many males, as well as students from Afrocentric backgrounds, lively debating is a natural style of speaking. Many Asian, Pacific Island, and Native American students would prefer to be passive, quiet, silent, and private in the classroom. Cultural expectations of obedience and respect may make it difficult for these students to challenge a professor, confront others, or to argue strongly.

What style of communication do you expect from your students? Do you grade them on their oral participation? Is the engaged, though verbally reticent student penalized? Do students raise their hands to speak, or do they manage their own turn-taking in a discussion? Are debates a required format of your course?

Does your classroom provide equal opportunities for the success of all students, whatever their views of collectivity, patterns of thinking, or preferred style of communication?