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Science Education - Matters of Diversity

Submitted by Paul Grobstein on Sat, 05/31/2008 - 10:02am

PGLab-Summer2008

During the summer of 2008, Paul Grobstein, Luisana Taveras, a rising sophomore at Bryn Mawr College, and Julia Lewis, a rising senior majoring in Chemistry and Bryn Mawr College, will be thinking about science education and trying out ideas in a summer institute program with K-12 teachers. These forums are a place for ongoing thinking by the three of them, and any one else interested. To contribute your thoughts, use the forum entry form at the bottom of this and other forum pages. Postings will be checked to prevent spam and so may be delayed in appearing. An updated list of all forums in this series is available here.

Matters of Diversity

Humans differ in terms of a wide range of characteristics, including not only racial, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds but also sex/gender identities as well as prior experiences, preferred learning styles and forms of social interaction, and the ease with which they address various cognitive and emotional challenges. What are the most useful ways to think about/relate to classroom diversity? Is heterogenity a problem for science education (education generally) or an asset? In general? In particular contexts?