Kidd, J.E., Sanchez, S.Y, and Thorp, E.K. (2005). Cracking the challenge of changing dispositions:Changing hearts and minds through stories, narratives, and direct cultural interactions. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 26, 347–359.
This article is about a cohort of students who were enrolled in an early childhood education program at George Mason University and the professors who taught and mentored the students. The anticipated outcome of the program was that the students, as pre-service teachers, would develop a fuller understanding and acceptance of “culturally, linguistically, socioeconomically, and ability-diverse young children and their families.” (Kidd, Sanchez, & Thorp, 2005, p. 347)
Once a desired outcome was articulated, the professors posed questions about how to design the program to achieve their goals, and then conducted research on similar studies and programs. After their research, the professors designed a two year program for a cohort of about twenty students who would take the same courses at the same time. The students would serve internships, get to know specific children and families through field work, and write reflectively on their experiences. The professors used some of the methods we have been studying in our class, such as thinking about desired outcomes, looking at course design, and considering how to involve and engage students in their own learning.
Student involvement was the key component in this program. Students worked as interns with different groups of young children at child care centers and schools. The children ranged in age from infancy through third grade. Students conducted home visits with some of the children from the schools and their families. Students were required to choose families from cultures other than their own, so that they would meet diverse families, hear family stories, and form new perceptions and appreciation of different cultures. The students in the cohort wrote extensively on their experiences over the two years, starting with their perceptions of children from diverse backgrounds before, during, and at the end of the program. The final assignment was to “reflect upon their experiences, synthesize their learning across the two years, and discuss the principles that guided and will guide their work with diverse young children and families.” (p. 350) The professors who designed this program provided the college students with on-the-job training opportunities, promoted social interactions between the students, children, and their families, and gave students real-world experience.
This reminds me of some work done a Mason, too, about ten years ago, where first-year courses linked in composition and sociology conducted service learning in an elementary school which served many different languages and nations of origin. Although the work for the students was intensive, they gained immeasurable from it.