STEM in a Diverse Class

 

The School

The building is huge. It looks like a plush hotel as you enter. Long driveway filled with rose bushes welcome you. The building is white all over. The school has over 6 floors and the central building encompasses the middle school. As I walked around, it took me some time to understand the layout and often had to stop a child or two to understand it better. The children of course were gracious enough to help me navigate. The teachers rushed about, somewhat stressed and somewhat happy. The students, all in white uniform, bundled around. Noise was palpable.

All I saw were students walking or running around with books. I peeped into classes and saw teachers writing on the board and talking. I saw stduents playing in the field. But at no place did I see them doing something that was driven by them. They were directed throughout by the adults and they followed in obedience. They confirmed completely to the law and order situation they were in. (psychologynoteshq.com/kohlbergstheory/, 2015).

Once I started spending time in the classrooms (as a consultant), I started noticing differences. In small and subtle ways, the students were different. There were students who worked independently and those who craved for scaffolder space of peers or teachers (psychologynoteshq.com/vygotsky-theory/). There were students who worked with autonomy freely seeking help when they needed and those who doubted themselves and avoided reaching out (McLeod, 2018). Culturally I saw India represented completely as students of various ethnic groups were represented.

Diversity in the Group

It was incredible to me how students in the same room, same group, wearing the same uniform could have so much diversity among them! All of us have our preferred styles of learning (Seifert & Sutton, 2009), and these were very visible in the room. Some students listened intensely and then wrote. Some drew diagrams. However, some preferred to wait for the teacher’s instructions before deciding how to work. About half the class was girls and the rest boys. They did not work together. The genders huddled within themselves. Students differ in so many ways (Seifert & Sutton, 2009)!

Instructional Planning

Any instructional planning needs to include the knowledge of diversity in the students. All of us have preferred ways of learning (Seifert & Sutton, 2009) and perform best when that way is included in the teaching. However, when it comes to STEM, one of the most important diversity to be careful of would be gender. Maths is considered a critical filter at the age group that I was observing (Ma & Willms, 1999). Girls drop out of maths and hence close the doors to higher education followed by career choices in maths for themselves. One of the reasons is self-efficacy (Schunk, 2012) of one’s own belief system. Repeated failure in a subject may lead one to lose confidence in oneself. The other reason is girls’ fear of success for it might lead to losing popularity among peers (Ma & Willms, 1999).

The other important difference would be preferred learning style (Seifert & Sutton, 2009). STEM invited hands-on learning. Students who are cognitive dominated might not want to get into STEM that requires hands-on work. Teachers may have to have some blend of cognitive challenge along with the hands-on work to encourage them.

STEM intrinsically requires an approach of autonomy and ability to make mistakes without getting affected by them. Students at conformity and interpersonal accord stage (psychologynoteshq.com/kohlbergstheory/) may not be able to take a risk that is implicit in a STEM session. Hence the teachers would need to be able to create a safe zone for the students.

The best STEM assignments allow room for creativity, innovation and collaboration (Weaver, 2020). These skills thrive in a space with diverse intelligences. Hence diversity is integral to enhancing quality when solving hard problems. The differing learning styles would ensure that stduents have the space to learn from each other. For this, a very collaborative environment would be very helpful, for cognitive development requires social interaction (psychologynoteshq.com/vygotsky-theory/, 2018). Collaboration brings its own challenges as students of different groups may not work with other. Role differences accentuate for some teenagers (Seifert & Sutton, 2009). This is the time when some girls and boys also might stop working with each other.

Teacher Adaptation

Teachers can do a lot to ensure that students learn to work in diverse spaces as a team. Some of the ways are listed by (Weaver, 2020).

1.      Randomness: Create groups randomly and keep changing them on routine basis so the students do not get into a groove of collaborators. They learn to work well with anyone for they develop the mental models of working with others. For example, in the class I observed, we could create random groups by mixing 2 sections and observe how they work together.

2.      Choice: Exchange randomness to choice. Let students choose their groups. However, inform them of the deliverable very clearly and handover the onus for choosing the right group to them. End of the class, have some reflection sessions to probe into what worked and why. For example, after few sessions of random grouping to get students to have an experience of working together, one could switch to groups by choice and see if the students have developed the skills of choosing the right group.

3.      Preferred learning style: Although diversity is helpful, at times to bring in more differentiation of tasks, students with preferred learning styles can be grouped together. Then tasks can be defined or created around a particular learning style and group. This might be good for groups that have clear groups of students who are dominated by a particular learning style over another. For example, in the class I was, most of the students were cognitively dominated and preferred to sit and write. Very few wanted to try things out on their own as they did not wish to take a risk. Their task grouping could be based on learning styles in such a way that helps them to step out of their cognitive dominance and lead to play.

4.      Shared interests: For further differentiation of tasks, students can choose their group as per shared interest and engage with others with same areas of interest. This may work well in a group with a lot of ethnic diversity. Having a pool of students with shared interest may help bridge the gap caused by ethnic differences. For example, in the class I was in, as a final step, once students have showed sufficient interest in moving out of their comfort zones, one could mix choice and interest and ask them to work together towards a common goal.

Conclusion

A diverse society creates problems due to differences but also opportunities due to having the space to learn from each other and grow in areas unknown to oneself. Individuals with functional diversity can outperform individuals with homogenous attributes (Hong & Baumol, 2004). But there is a catch! The diverse group must move out of the comfort zone of their selves and build a collective culture. Then the group is unbeatable. What a teacher can do is to scaffold their learning to the point where they feel the safe space to grow towards a harmonious group.

 

References

Hong, L., Page, S., & Baumol, W. (2004). Groups of Diverse Problem Solvers Can Outperform Groups of High-Ability Problem Solvers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101(46), 16385-16389. Retrieved September 9, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3373827

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development (2015). Retrieved from https://www.psychologynoteshq.com/kohlbergstheory/ 

Ma, X., & Willms, J. (1999). Dropping out of Advanced Mathematics: How Much Do Students and Schools Contribute to the Problem? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 21(4), 365-383. Retrieved September 9, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1164483

Schunk, D. H. (2012). Learning theories: An educational perspective (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.  

Seifert, K., & Sutton, R. (2009). Educational psychology (2^nd ed.). The Saylor Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Educational-Psychology.pdf

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development (2018). Retrieved from https://www.psychologynoteshq.com/vygotsky-theory/

Weaver, J. (2020). Diversity Can Benefit Teamwork in STEM. Retrieved September 09, 2020, from https://teaching.berkeley.edu/diversity-can-benefit-teamwork-stem