Beliefs of Immigrant Asian Science Educators Regarding Multicultural Science Education in the United States

Background: The increase of culturally and linguistically student population in the K-12 education has called for the teacher educators to prepare preservice teachers to address the needs of diverse students. Several teacher educations programs across the nation have adopted teacher training programs that focus on multicultural education. An understanding and implementation of multicultural education is not only informed by teacher preparation programs but is also influenced by teacher educators’ beliefs. Even today in countries like India and China, teaching science concepts is driven by traditional methods and dominated by a teacher-centered approach. Several immigrant educators are preparing preservice science teachers for diverse classrooms, yet researchers seldom tap into understanding their beliefs and practice. Purpose: The United States is considered the multicultural society. Nevertheless, the cultural diversity that immigrant educators experience in the India and China is significantly different from that in the U.S. Hence it is essential to understand the beliefs of immigrant science teacher educators about, as beliefs are informed by personal experiences and prior knowledge. Research Questions: (a) What are the beliefs of Asian science educators about multicultural science education in the context of the United States? and (b) How do their beliefs impact their practice? Methods: The data is primarily collected through open-ended surveys and semi-structured (virtual) interviews. Interview transcripts are transcribed through MS Stream and hand-coded to unpack the perceptions and beliefs as per Banks’ (1993) typology of multicultural education. The naturalistic inquiry focuses on how people behave in natural settings while engaging in life experiences. Credibility and trustworthiness are derived from the richness of the data gathered. Results: The participants discussed the terminologies they were referring to within their coursework, but it was not the use of the actual term multicultural education. The participants beliefs and understanding of multicultural science education is based on the fact: 1) that is science for all the students; 2) every student has the potential of understanding scientific knowledge, and 3) cultural diversity adds to the richness of the existing scientific ideas. The themes of generated from the data analysis are: 1) Standard-driven instruction; 2) Multicultural Education – a concept or a confusion; 3) Professional Development and 4) Educators with an ‘outsider’ identity. Conclusion: The participants suggested the concept of multicultural education ties to content areas of literacy and social studies. Limited time and opportunity serve as a significant barrier to including critical discussions essential for preparing preservice teachers for a diverse science classroom. Implications from this study call for intensive professional development opportunities to keep science teacher educators informed about the purpose of multicultural education. Further studies need to be conducted on unique constructs such as perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes of science teacher educators and how they are tied to multicultural science education.