Holidays Around the World

The Holidays Around the World webquest promotes multicultural education for primary grade students.  Education today is very different from how it was in the past and technology continues to improve on a daily basis.  Recognizing these facts, Chrisholm (1998) writes, “While the number of computers in American schools multiplies, cultural diversity increasingly characterizes our classrooms. Schools today must educate a population that differs widely in income, ethnicity, language, ability, and culture” (p. 3). Unfortunately, the needs of minority students are inadequately met in most schools.  For this reason, it is so important to consider the six culturally support elements presented by Chrisholm.  This webquests adequately meets Chrisholm’s six elements by allowing students to study five different holidays from around the world.  Chrisholm (1998) states, “Culturally responsive teaching connects learning to the child’s real-life experiences and is compatible with the cultural background of learners and their community” (p. 6). The holidays present in the webquest are representative of the minority groups most commonly found in the Palos Heights area.  All students celebrate one holiday or another and the webquest allows them to take their real-world knowledge and make connections to other holidays that might be celebrated by their classmates.  My Holidays Around the World lesson provides cultural awareness and is culturally relevant in terms of the district’s minority population. For this lesson, all students will be provided with laptops to conduct the webquest, creating equitable access for all students.  A multi-modal approach is utilized through the incorporation of the Youtube videos and the kerpoof website.  Chrisholm (1998) writes, “Technology becomes an essential part of the curriculum and learning activities. Therefore, learning with computers becomes meaningful, practical, and transferable to the world beyond the school” (p. 16).  The integration of technology to teach a culturally diverse topic like Holiday Around the World really motivates students to continue their quest to learn about additional holidays celebrated by different cultures of people.

Reference:
Chisholm, I.M. (1998) Six elements for technology integration in multicultural classroom, Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 7: 2, 247 — 268 Retrieved on May 14, 2011 from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14759399800200033