Experiential Learning in Teacher Education: Increasing Awareness of Diversity Through the Immersion Experience

Sixty-four years after the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision, schools, neighborhoods, and communities in the United States remain largely segregated by race and class. As a result, many incoming students arrive on college and university campuses with limited exposure to people from a wide array of backgrounds and identities. In this article, we examine how students enrolled in an undergraduate teacher education course, Multiculturalism and Education, learned from and reflected on an experiential learning assignment. The assignment, called “Immersion Experience,” required them to have a brief experience in a cultural context that is different from their own. Through the assignment, students reflected on their own identities, values, and upbringing; learned about their stereotypes and beliefs about discrimination; and began to appreciate experience as a way of deepening their understanding of diversity. In an era in which undergraduates spend more of their time online, self-segregated and fractured by political beliefs and social identities and experiences, assignments such as the “Immersion Experience” help to create the physical, human encounters with difference that are vital for community and democracy

Experiential Learning in Teacher Education : Increasing Awareness of Diversity Through the Immersion Experience

Sixty-four years after the landmark Brown vs. Board of Educationdecision, schools, neighborhoods, and communities in the United States re-main largely segregated by race and class. As a result, many incoming studentsarrive on college and university campuses with limited exposure to people froma wide array of backgrounds and identities. In this article, we examine howstudents enrolled in an undergraduate teacher education course, Multicultur-alism and Education, learned from and reflected on an experiential learningassignment. The assignment, called “Immersion Experience,” required them tohave a brief experience in a cultural context that is different from their own.Through the assignment, students reflected on their own identities, values, andupbringing; learned about their stereotypes and beliefs about discrimination;and began to appreciate experience as a way of deepening their understandingof diversity. In an era in which undergraduates spend more of their time on-line, self-segregated and fractured by political beliefs and social identities andexperiences, assignments such as the “Immersion Experience” help to createthe physical, human encounters with difference that are vital for communityand democracy

Introduction

This is the introduction to the special issue

Postglobal Teacher Preparation: Border Thinking along the Global South through International Cross-Cultural Experiences (La Preparación Post Global del Maestro) (pp.76-96)

Preservice teachers’ international cross-cultural experiences can provide opportunities for the exploration of epistemic frontiers.  In this article we suggest that postglobal teacher preparation is a critically reflective approach that engages preservice teachers in border thinking, which allows for other ways of knowing while studying abroad.  Through international cross-cultural experiences, preservice teachers can recognize the disparate impacts of neoliberal economic globalization on educational and social equity within the metaphorical global South and the global North.  We examine the narratives constructed by preservice teachers through the reflection of their international cross-cultural experiences during a Honduras Study Abroad Program.  The article also explores the implications of a postglobal preparation for preservice teachers. (This article is provided in English only.)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Las experiencias culturales internacionales de aquellos que se preparan para ser maestros pueden proveer oportunidades para la exploración de fronteras epistémicas. Este artículo sugiere la preparación postglobal como una aproximación crítica y reflexiva que puede comprometer a los que se preparan para ser maestros hacia una forma fronteriza de pensamiento la cual les permite explorar otras formas de conocimiento. A través de esta experiencia los maestros en preparación también pueden tener la oportunidad de reconocer los impactos desiguales de la economía neoliberal y capitalista sobre diversas plataformas educacionales y sociales dentro de lo que metafóricamente se conocen como sur y norte globales. En este artículo se analizan narrativas construidas por los maestros en formación durante un programa de estudios internacionales en Honduras. Se exploran también implicancias para la preparación postglobal en la educación de maestros. (Este artículo se ofrece solamente en inglés.