MD3 Journal

Masters of Science in Education, Walden University

EDUC 6602: Design Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

July 17, 2022

As a teacher one must ensure that the students in ones care receives the quality education and have their learning needs met despite race, class or socio-economic background. Constructivism posits that learners can create knowledge based on prerequisite experience rather than just take information given to them passively. It further postulates that as students experience the world around them, they create their own representation and combine new information into their prerequisite knowledge (schemas). In comparison the idea of multiculturalism is the theory that students which are members of minority groups can maintain their distinctive collective identities and practices while learning . (Stanford Enc. 2020 p.4). Constructivism can be identified as experiential and multicultural points to cultural background.

As a teacher the statement “One quality that aligns constructivism and multiculturism is the common belief that all students can learn” (Henson, 2015, p. 4); denotes that all students can learn, as students can use prior knowledge to construct their own understanding based on their cultural backgrounds.

As an educator one must highlight the need for one’s students to make real life connections based on their own experiences and their world. Students from multicultural back ground can be led to realize the connection between math and cultural experience; Realizing that math is all around them and that everything they do and experience is mathematically related. For e.g. the relation between money and decimals. Ramsay-Jordan M. (2020) postulates that teachers can require students to expand upon prerequisite mathematical knowledge they garnered from cultural and experiential knowledge through making connection.

As an educator this informs me and will inform one’s curriculum and instruction through the assertion of oneself to consistently and in a positive way make their instructions towards students of different cultural and experiential backgrounds effective, by creating conditions for students to work cooperatively to be agents of change and afford them the opportunities to think of learning in a meaningful way. In this sense as a teacher one will be culturally responsive, which in turn allow students with skills, knowledge and freedom to develop needed autonomy, therefore causing students to shape and evolve their own realities, develop strengths and see the opportunities to move beyond feeling limited in developing cultural excellence.

Ramsey-Jordan M. (2020) also cites that “teachers who engage in Culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) for mathematics within the classroom setting are distinct in that they inculcate critical mathematics teaching in their dispositions and practices, which in turn foster a critical approach to knowledge acquisition.”

One theory that piqued an interest aside from Multicultural and Constructivism was Humanism. This theory was developed by Abraham Moslow and focuses on human freedom,

dignity and potential. It lends itself to the assumption that individuals act with intentionality and values and it is integral to study the person as whole, especially as an individual grows and develop over a lifetime. The areas of interest that one should study are areas such as motivation and goals. Huitt (2001). This theory focuses on the student’s choice and autonomy over the course of their education. It allows the student to focus on an area that is of interest them. There is no time limitation on the area, the student is interested in.

This theory is in contrast to standards-based education where teaching and learning focuses on all elements of the educational experience, which includes standardized

testing and other assessments, teaching, grading and giving feedback through reporting on core standards that span throughout a student’s school years. Humanistic theory is a paradigm shift from standard based education. Zucca-Scott L. (2010) As teacher one cannot fail to deny the talents of our children or ignore that potential that they possess. Humanism pushes for students to be seen for who they are and who they could become. It roots human connection because without this connection students will feel left out. In standard based learning environment, students frequently required to forget who they are and what they prefer, they lose the autonomy to develop on talents for the sake of standardized testing. This causes students to be led to boredom.

Ramsey-Jordon M. (2020) cites “the impetus for teachers being culturally responsive is often challenged and restricted by their schools’ interaction with NCLB and current pushes toward high-stakes testing and standardization of education.” Findings have suggested that as teachers reaches towards engaging in needed culturally responsive practices, there is formidable demand of the teacher about accountability pressures that pushes them toward standard based learning adoption of drilling test preparation practices.

This suggest that those with vested interest in teacher preparation and student achievement must work together to provide more meaningful ways to hold schools and teachers accountable for student achievement. Ramsey-Jordan (2020)

References

Curriculum assessment and teaching Transformation.(n.d) 20220University at Buffalo https://www.buffalo.edu/catt/develop/theory/constructivism.html#:~:text=Constructivism%20is %20the%20theory%20that,%2Dexisting%20knowledge%20(schemas).

Know Thyself: The Importance of Humanism in Education Laura Zucca-Scott Blackburn College, laura.zucca@blackburn.edu

Learning-Theories.com. (n.d.). Summaries of learning theories and models. https://learningtheories.com/summaries-learning-theories-models-bkp

Multiculturalism (2020)

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/multiculturalism/

Ramsay-Jordan, N. (2020). Preparation and the real world of education: How prospective teachers

grapple with using culturally responsive teaching practices in the age of standardized testing.

International Journal of Educational Reform, 29(1) 3–24.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1056787919877142

Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)