Developing Cultural Competencies in Pre-Service Teachers Through Humanity Centered Design and Community-Based Learning

Abstract

Teacher education programs advocating for culturally sustaining teaching practices are concerned with providing experiences that develop cultural competencies and dispositions for teaching in diverse environments. Gloria Ladson-Billings (1995), influential research in the area of culturally relevant pedagogy, found that effective educators understand the culture of their students and make “conscious decisions to be a part of the community from which their students come (p 479).” This article examines the potential of empathetic immersion into students’ communities using Humanity-Centered Design (HCD) for cultivating cultural competencies in preservice teachers (PTs). The authors describe how two HCD projects, a literacy center library and HCD informed lesson planning activity, immersed PTs into experiences that disrupt previously held beliefs and fostered dispositions for culturally effective teaching practices.

Keywords

Culturally responsive teaching cultural competencies human-centered design preservice teachers community-based learning

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