Teaching Core Skills Through Culturally Responsive Project-Based Learning
We, like many instructors, have high expectations for our students to participate in culturally relevant projects, establish community, and apply their learning in a real-world setting. We had students work on a single project last year that aimed to achieve all three of these objectives.
Our students used hydroponics to cultivate herbs for dumplings over the course of eight weeks. Why are dumplings used? This food is found and adored in civilizations all over the world when defined broadly as "dough that encases a filling" or "dough that lays on top of a filling." As a result, our project recognized our kids' variety and provided opportunities for cross-cultural dialogue.
Also Read: Playschool in Sohana Road Gurugram
Our school is in Winooski, Vermont, which has a population of barely 8,000 people yet is the most densely populated and culturally varied city in northern New England. The district has pupils from 25 different nationalities speaking 19 different languages, including but not limited to English, Nepali, Swahili, Vietnamese, Karen, Somali, Mai Mai, and Arabic. Last year, our 40 sixth graders represented the majority of these cultures and languages.
A grant from the Gund Institute for Environment at the University of Vermont supported the study, which entailed close collaboration with three faculty members: Dr. Eric Roy, Dr. Leon Walls, and Tricia Brown.
FEATURES OF THE PROJECT
We began by asking students to observe and speculate on a "heat map" of expected world food production in 2050. Students' observations aided in framing the hydroponics project as a local answer to a global challenge. But why cultivate food? What could we do with it? Dumplings, anyone? As a result, we launched a challenge for students to cultivate herbs for the Great International Dumpling Challenge, a friendly competition in which students employed rates and ratios to create the most delicious dumplings with cilantro, basil, and parsley.
Student ownership ran throughout the initiative, from students identifying and caring for their plants to selecting their own dumpling recipe.
Every week, students measured the heights of their plants, and they came in during lunch and passing periods to show their friends their herbs. The plants were a hit at family gatherings, and several students offered their seeds to non-science classmates.
In arithmetic, student ownership was also an element of the cooking process. Many students choose a dumpling dish from their family's culture, such as samosas, momos, potstickers, perogies, and empanadas. One kid requested a family dish from her Bosnian grandma.
Students devised experiments to study how light manipulation affected the development of parsley, basil, and cilantro.
Also Check: Preschool in JVC
A side effect was that the purple lights, massive herbs, and sinuous root systems changed the atmosphere of the learning area. Planting seeds, assessing plant growth, and gently clipping the plants all required students to get their hands dirty.
The aromas of herbs filled our rooms as they grew and when students sliced them to prepare for cooking. We also loved the delightful fragrances and flavors of dumplings.
A FESTIVAL OF DIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY
"Food is not just fuel," author and journalist Michael Pollan once said. Food represents community and identity. And when we eat well, we nourish all of those things." Pollan's remarks perfectly represent our project experiences. Family members stepped in to assist with the cooking. Our pupils learnt about and enjoyed cuisines from diverse cultures, allowing for the strengthening and expansion of bonds between students and adults.
Students consuming
Andrew Wild provided the images.
Even if your school doesn't have a lot of cultural diversity, cuisine (particularly dumplings!) can be a terrific way to learn about different cultures and develop community.
To strengthen neighborhood relationships, our school district's cultural liaisons served as judges and taste testers at a final event when we also sampled all of the dumplings.
The winning team prepared vegetarian Nepali momos and won a cabbage as a trophy. When a chant of "Eat it! Eat it!" erupted, a beloved student bit into the raw vegetable on behalf of the victorious squad, causing the entire crowd to burst out laughing.
RIGOR
All of our dumplings were vegetarian, but we made certain that the "meat" of standards-aligned math and science content and abilities was central to the project, which aligns with author and national education consultant Zaretta Hammond's concept of culturally responsive teaching. In particular, we aimed to "improve the learning ability of diverse kids who have been educationally excluded," in the words of Hammond.
Every week, students measured the heights of their plants. They calculated the mean, median, and mode of these measures in math and then "gave them back" to science class, where trends were investigated and herb growth under various conditions was compared.
Students increased their analytical skills and gained independence as scientists, mathematicians, and cooks with each passing week. Dumpling recipes were reviewed for the greatest taste ratios. Ingredient costs were computed using unit rates, and each dumpling had its own unit price.
REFLECTION
Our students performed a reflection similar to KQED's Engineering for Good curriculum to conclude the project. Zulie described the project as "soooooo awesome." It influenced me to become an environmentalist."
Whatever students felt about the Great International Dumpling Challenge, we doubt they will forget the towering aromatic herbs, delectable international food, and sense of camaraderie and connection. This year, we hope to improve the initiative and expand the integration of different views to English and social studies.
Comments
Post a Comment