The Human Bean Activity: Preservice Teachers Acknowledge and Engage With Issues of Race

• In Event: Roundtable Session 95
  In Roundtable Session: Teaching About Race, Diversity, and Difference: Preparing Preservice Teachers for Teaching in a Multicultural Global Society

Abstract

There is an overwhelming White majority of pre-service teacher candidates who are expected to read and respond to multicultural literature throughout their coursework. This article reports on an effort to create an experience, The Human Bean activity, that help students construct a concrete representation of her or his social community as way to begin orienting themselves to multicultural literature. Relying on Reader Response Theory, as well as Mercer’s observations of group thinking and problem solving, this qualitative study reports the ways students talk about over the course of the activity. Results show growth in the way students talk about their understanding of race and culture. Implications include methods for creating environment that foster student talk about difficult issues.

Author

• Laura M. Jimenez, Boston University