Teacher Candidates' Immersion in Ethiopian Immigrant Communities in Israel and at Home: A Comparative Study

• In Event: Cultural Immersion Experiences to Transform Preservice Teachers' Perceptions of Learners

Abstract

As the demographics of the United States continue to shift, American classrooms reflect the richness of cultural diversity and the vibrancy of immigrant populations. Education abroad programs provide opportunities for pre service teachers to develop their cultural competence, required for effectively teaching children from a range of cultural backgrounds. Given the financial demands of study abroad programs, researchers have also examined domestic cultural immersion experiences. There is a lack of research that compares education abroad with domestic cultural immersion. This study contributes to the literature by comparing preservice teachers’ responses to two cultural immersion experiences that are closely aligned both in content and in pedagogy, one in Israel and the other in a domestic setting.

Authors

• Melissa Landa, University of Maryland

• John F. O'Flahavan, University of Maryland