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Running Head: MULTICULTURAL EDUCATIONAL METHODS

Multicultural Educational Methods

Judy Compton

Educational Psychology

Dr. Julie Bilz

February 22, 2017

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Three instructional tactics are recommended most often by proponents of multicultural education

are peer tutoring, cooperative learning, and mastery learning. Each of these techniques are well

suited to the goals of multicultural education in using culturally responsive teaching.

Peer tutoring involves one student teaching another student. Students should be similar in

age or one to two years apart. Jean Piagets notions about cognitive development is the

theoretical basis of peer tutoring. Growth occurs when students try to resolve cognitive conflict

because of different cognitive schemes of the students. The student being tutored and the student

doing the tutoring should both benefit from interacting with each other. Research has found peer

tutoring has been effective in aiding achievement in a wide range of students and a wide range of

subject matters. Students who interacted through peer tutoring scored higher on average than the
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students who did not. Strongest effects were obtained for students who were younger, urban,

ethnic minorities, and low-income. Researches have also found peer tutoring to have a positive

effect on social outcomes such as the ability to make friends and cooperativeness. Students who

provided peer tutoring also reap learning benefits. Training periodically and reminders of the

students to use knowledge-building explanations and questions provides learning benefits to the

tutor. The tutor should provide new examples, discuss underlying concepts, connect ideas and

pose question which require integration and application. A way I would use peer tutoring in the

classroom is to take a student who has all ready mastered the lesson with a student who is

struggling. The students would be given class time to work on lesson work together.

Cooperative learning is by working in small heterogeneous groups of four or five

students and helping one another master the various aspects of a particular task, students will

become more motivated to learn. Students will learn more through cooperative learning than if

work is done independently. Also, students will forge stronger interpersonal relationships through

cooperative learning. Cultural diversity can not entirely be learned from books and articles.

Deeper understanding of the nature and value of diversity is gained by learning to work

cooperatively with others from different cultural backgrounds. Cooperative learning produced

higher levels of achievement than non-cooperative arrangements. Results of student team

learning programs has been consistently positive. Students who participate in cooperative

learning are more likely to list peers from different ethnic groups as friends. Group projects such

as making a play for a story would be a good way to use cooperative learning in the classroom. A

play gives each student a job, which he or she will be comfortable doing. Students getting a

chance to work with other students on a play will give students the opportunity to get to know
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one another and to find positive qualities about one another. An example would be a student who

does not read well out loud may be awesome at designing props for a play.

Mastery learning is an approach to teaching and learning which assumes most students

can master the curriculum if conditions are met. One condition is students has sufficient aptitude

to learn the task. Another condition is the student has sufficient ability to understand instruction

given. Third the students are willing to persevere until attainment of a certain level of mastery is

obtained. Fourth students must be allowed to have whatever time is necessary to attain mastery.

Fifth students are provided with good-quality instruction. Proponents of master learning assume

these conditions can be obtained if conditions are not all ready present. Aptitude is seen as being

partly determined by how well prerequisite knowledge and skills have been learned.

Perseverance can be strengthened by deft use of creative teaching methods and various forms of

rewards for a successful performance. Basic master-learning approach is to specify clearly what

is to be learned, organize the content into relatively short units, use a variety of instructional

methods and materials, allow students to progress through the material at his or her own rate,

monitor student progress to identify budding problem, provide corrective feedback and allow

students to relearn and retest on each unit until mastery is attained. Research on master learning

has been generally positive. Mastery-learning programs produce moderately strong effects on

achievement in comprehensive review of literature. I would use mastery-learning by making

short units on a subject. An example would be math, such as addition. Students would be given a

short beginning math lesson and then tested. Students which pass the test will move onto another

short math lesson. The students which did not do well on the test would be taught the math

lesson in another way and tested again. Mastery of the math lesson must be accomplished before

the students will move on. After the first test is when student will be grouped into groups of four
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or five. Students will be grouped based on where he or she is in math lessons. Groups will not

reach more than five students but students may end up changing groups if needed to be in the

lesson student needs to master next.

References

Snowman, J., & McCown, R. (2015). psychology applied to teaching (14th ed.). stamford,

CT: cengage learning.