General chemistry is a mandatory course for those in pursuit of careers in various allied health and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. However, many students find chemistry difficult. For English language learners (ELLs), the situation is especially demanding, as these students are required to learn the specialized…

Today's classrooms in the United States reflect the growing diversity of the changing world. In order to prepare high-quality multicultural educators, the authors of this article, three teacher educators at a large, mid-south, research-one university, collaborated to share successful strategies to infuse multicultural literature into the three…

The issue of diversity in U.S. K-12 schools requires significant training and experiences for preservice teachers to recognize the importance of students' socio-cultural, religious values, and the influence their cultural background have in their quest to succeed in their educational endeavors. This study provides significant information to…

Diversity does not simply mean differences of race or ethnicity but includes the cultural experiences that children bring to school, including language, beliefs, values, norms, family configuration, socioeconomic status, gender, special needs, home and community backgrounds, and learning styles. Yet while the population of children in schools is…

Students in public schools nationwide are becoming more diverse. By 2020, students of color will account for 50% of the school population, while teachers will likely remain predominantly White and female. The cultural gap between students and teachers will continue to present numerous obstacles for students of color to succeed at school. As a…

In this article, the author discusses her research on children's perspectives of interracial and interethnic friendships in a multiethnic school and highlights children's voices on these intergroup friendships. Schools are important spaces in which social and cultural competencies necessary to the formation of intergroup friendships may be…

The world is a diverse ecosystem where humans and the environment must interact and live in harmony. In order to keep any society going, either at the national or global level, the importance of having visions for the improvement of that society cannot be overemphasized. It is in the light of this dream of making Botswana an enviable nation that…

The purpose of this study was to examine suburban high school teachers' beliefs about non-European ancestry immigrant students; more specifically, suburban teachers' beliefs regarding the impact of students' cultural backgrounds on academic performance were examined. Non-European ancestry immigrant students are those students whose ancestral…

Although many programs ascribe to promoting and celebrating diversity, traditional teacher preparation rarely centralizes multicultural education courses. Instead, these courses are often "added on" to or disconnected from the rest of the program. Multicultural education courses and other courses that address diversity often ask the preservice…

Numerous researchers have stressed the critical need for preservice teachers, especially White middle-class teachers, to be educated in strategies and philosophies that are culturally responsive to an increasingly diverse K-12 student population. To this end, Geneva Gay's framework of culturally responsive pedagogy, which includes caring,…