Service Learning & Multicultural Understanding: Putting Theory into Practice

1. Service Learning & Multicultural Understanding: Putting Theory into Practice Randall E. Osborne, Ph.D. Texas State University-San Marcos Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

2. What Service Learning Can Teach That Relates to Multicultural Understanding • Minimize Dispositional Inferences • Maximize Situational Correction • Enhance Civic Attitudes • Prompt Changes in Diversity Philosophy • Change In-Group/Out-Group Identities • Expanded social identity = expanded interaction & few assumptions • Diminish “Worldview Defense” • Alter beliefs about a “Just World” • Do people “get what they deserve & deserve what they get?” Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

3. Defining Service Learning • type of experiential education in which students participate in service in the community and reflect on their involvement in such a way as to gain a further understanding of course content and of the discipline and of its relationship to social needs and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility (Bringle & Hatcher, 1997, p. 153). Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

4. Accomplishing Effective Service Learning • Effective service learning will not just happen • It is purposeful and an interwoven part of the fabric of the course • As one develops the course, however, one must also determine how best to “cultivate” the learning Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

5. Howard’s (1993) “Best Practices” • Howard states that effective service learning: • provides educationally sound mechanisms to harvest the community learning • In other words, it provides methods for reflecting on what is being learned Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

6. Reflection • Bringle and Hatcher (1995) remind us that "reflection" must be: • intentional, • related to the experience, and • connected to particular learning objectives. • Faculty can reflect on the relationship between the service-learning projects and the development of their courses using the same principles. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

7. Effective Reflection • Bringle and Hatcher (1995) summarized the criteria for the good practice of reflection. Effective reflection activities: • link experience to learning; • are guided; • occur regularly; • allow feedback and assessment; and • foster the exploration and clarification of values. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

8. Effective Reflection - 2 • Eyler, Giles and Schmiede (1996), provided a useful rubric for developing reflection activities: faculty should remember the four Cs of reflection: • continuous, • connected, • contextualized, and • challenging. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

9. Effective Reflection – 2 -Defined • Reflection that is continuous requires students to reflect on the experience before, during and after the experience. • Reflection that is connected, links the reflection to the course content and the course learning goals. • Reflection that is contextualized is given a framework. • Reflection activities that are challenging should push the student to consider difficult issues, to address those issues from multiple perspectives, and to explore contradictions and inconsistencies. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

10. Making Attributions • Everyday we encounter a wide range of behavior from other people • How do we sort all of this information & come to know the people we meet? • We attempt to explain “what made them do that?” • Attribution – our decision about why someone has acted a particular way. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

11. Types of Attributions • Dispositional Inference = decide that a person’s behavior is caused by personal characteristics. • Situational Inference = decide that a person’s behavior is caused by something in the environment. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

12. How Are Attributions Made? The “AND” Model Observe Someone’s Behavior Dispositional Inference AND Situational Correction Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

13. Being Cognitively Busy • Major Assumptions of the “AND” Model • Dispositional Inference is first, Situational Correction is second • Dispositional Inference is easy, Situational Correction is hard • Busy perceivers (those doing more than one mental task) will be able to make dispositional inferences but should be unable to engage in situational corrections. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

14. How Do Errors In Our Impressions Get Made? • Anything that interferes (lack of motivation, limited cognitive resources, emotional processing, etc.)with our ability to engage in both: • Dispositional Inference, and • Situational Correction • Will result in a biased first impression. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

15. Personality Versus Situation • Levels of Attribution! • Internal Vs. External • Who is responsible? Temporary Vs. Stable • Will this happen next time? Global Vs. Specific • What does this tell me about the rest of who I am or who this other person is? Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

16. Defensive Attributions • We many times make attributions to reduce our own anxiety. • When we become emotionally aroused, we hold the victim responsible for his or her own fate • “He got what he deserved” • “Anyone dressing like that is just asking for it” • We become less rational as observers when our own fears (such as “this could have happened to me) get activated • To avoid such fears, we tend to blame the victim so we can convince ourselves that such a fate will not befall us. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

17. Saliency Bias • What You See Is What You Get!!! • Behavior is so obvious • Situational forces are often subtle and hidden • Anything that sets the individual apart from others (e.g., race, gender, class, etc.) will tend to be remembered more than anything else Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

18. Identity • Research on Self and Identity show that individuals develop two identities: • Personal identity • A sense of my own attributes – short, smart, honest, shy, etc. • Social identity • Which groups define who I am? – American, Psychology Major, Bobcat, Lutheran, etc. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

19. Social Identity Theory • My social identity influences my INTERACTIONS with and ASSUMPTIONS about other people • Social Identification Theory: • We categorize – place people into categories • We identify – gain self-esteem by belonging • We compare – judge by comparing to others Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

20. Social Identity Theory • Here-in lies the problem • In order to make my “group” seem superior, I am likely to make another group seem inferior (should be more likely to lead to defensive attributions and saliency bias) • In-Groups are assessed positively • Out-Groups are assessed negatively • Even young children show this bias • Kids in grade school assess children at their own school as superior to those at other schools Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

21. Social Identity & 9-11 • We were all affected by 9-11 • Despite the tragedy, we have to find a way to place it into “perspective” - In other words – we want to know “why?” • The media and other sources encouraged us to refer to our “social identity” as Americans = natiocentrism • Implications of natiocentrism (geographic estimations, assessments of educational quality, estimates of crime rates, intention to travel) • Remember that S.I. leads us to: • Categorize Identify Compare • To “value” our own group – we must, to some level, “devalue” the other group(s) Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

22. New Research • Assess Natiocentrism • Assess Individual’s Diversity Philosophy • Continuum from “Assimilation” to “Inclusiveness” • Thomas and Butler (1998) = “Tolerance is acceptance and open-mindedness of different practices, attitudes and cultures; does not, necessarily, mean agreement with the differences. Implies an acknowledgement, or acceptance or respect. Not necessarily an appreciation and usually consists of only surface level information.” Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

23. New Research • Inclusiveness = “the practice of emphasizing our uniqueness in promoting the reality that each voice, when, valued, respected and, expected to, will provide positive contribution to the community.” • Relate to perceptions of “hate crime” legislation, judgments of characteristics of others (subtle inclusion of ethnic differences), and tendency to engage in non-effortful attributions. • Implications for jury selection & voting behavior Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

24. Diversity Philosophy – Sample Questions • What foundational premise best guides your thoughts about race? • A. Race is a social construct. • B. It is not the color of their skin, but the content of their character that matters. • C. Race is biologically based and needs to be used in race definitions. • D. Respect for each race is important in building a diverse society. • A= Inclusiveness B= Tolerance • C= Assimilation D= Multicultural Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

25. Diversity Philosophy – Sample Questions • What foundational premise best guides your thoughts about religion? • A. We are a nation built on Christian values. These are our guiding principles • B. We should not condemn those who are not Christians. • C. We should actively utilize the values and insights from the many different religions to enhance clarity and understanding. • D. We should acknowledge and respect many religions. • A= Assimilation B= Tolerance • C= Inclusiveness D= Multicultural Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

26. Service-Learning • Service-learning may be a very valuable tool for assisting students in fostering connections between the campus and the community and between the community and their lives. • To date, however, these assumptions have not been tested.  • A pilot project was conducted in which 8 sections of the university seminar course were selected to include a service-learning option. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

27. Pre-Post Data • Students were solicited for consent to complete a battery of surveys at the beginning of the course and the end of the course. • After completing the initial surveys, students declared the service-learning or non-service-learning option. • At the end of the course, students completed the surveys again. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

28. The Instruments • Who Am I? students write down the first 20 words or short phrases that come to mind when they are asked Who Are You? • Locus of Control Scale measures student views of the degree to which internal or external factors determine what happens to people. • Civic Attitudes and Skills Questionnaire measures student intentions to become involved in future community service, self-evaluation of their interpersonal and problem-solving skills, self-evaluations of their awareness of local and national political issues, etc.  • Demographic questionnaire asks students basic demographic questions that may be relevant to their scores on the preliminary surveys and their academic success indicators (birth order, degree of involvement outside of classes, size of hometown, etc.). Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

29. Who Am I? • Naïve raters categorized responses on the Who Am I? Measure as either “internal” (focused on self) or “external” (focused on other). • After establishing an interrater reliability of .90, raters scores were averaged. • A ratio was created for internal and external descriptors by dividing each number by the total number of descriptors generated. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

30. Pretest Data • As expected, there were no significant differences between the groups (those who opted for SL and those who did not) at the beginning of the semester: NSL SL Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

31. Posttest Data • As expected, the SL students changed significantly on the CASQ (attitudes increased) and Who Am I? (they became more external in describing self and less internal: NSL SL Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

32. CASQ Internal External SL Pre 117.60 .4212 .5846 Post 123.40* .3119* .6881* NSL Pre 117.08 .4035 .5965 Post 117.40 .3987 .5578 Pretest-Posttest Comparison Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

33. Previous Research • Previous research suggests that Belief in a Just World influences individuals’ perceptions of victimization, decisions whether to lend assistance, and degree of commitment to justice (e.g., Appelbaum, Lennon & Aber, 2003; Lerner, 1980; Lipkus, Dalbert & Siegler, 1996). • The National Center for Children in Poverty developed vignette’s in which women were portrayed varying randomly on 11 characteristics, including: • whether she works or receives welfare, • whether she attends school, • whether she is looking for a job, and • whether she sometimes skips a meal so that her family can eat. • In all cases, the subject was described as the mother of two children. • Respondents with a strong Belief in a Just World find women less deserving the more they act responsibly or make efforts to improve their situation. • Respondents with a weak Belief in a Just World find women more deserving the more they make an effort to improve their situation. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

34. Previous Research • The results of the study from the National Center for Children in Poverty suggest that the belief system is challenged for people with a strong Belief in a Just World when they are presented with women who make efforts to improve their situation but still can’t get ahead. • In order to protect their belief system, people with a strong Belief in a Just World will devalue and blame the victim. • The current study attempted to build on our understanding of the impact of Belief in a Just World by assessing the relationships between academic major and: • Perceptions of the causes of juvenile crime • Belief in the possibility of juvenile rehabilitation, and • Belief in a Just World Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

35. Social Identity Theory Personal Achievements Personal Identity Need for Self-Esteem Group Achievements Self- Esteem Social Identities Favoritism toward ingroups and derogation of outgroups Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

36. Social Identity Theory • People’s identities are derived primarily from their membership in various groups: • Social identity consists of those aspects of an individual’s self-image that derive from the social categories to which he/she perceives self as belonging. • People are generally motivated to achieve and maintain a positive social identity – thereby boosting their self-esteem. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

37. Social Identity Theory • The positive identity that comes from the ingroup identification (social identity) derives mainly from comparisons between the ingroup and available or relevant outgroups. • There will be a preference for favorable comparisons between the ingroup and the outgroup. • People look for ways or outgroups that will enable the ingroup to be seen as positive and distinctive • If necessary, then, individuals will denigrate the outgroup, focus on the negative rather than the positive characteristics, and engage in discrimination in order to feel more positively about self and our ingroups. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

38. Social Identity Theory – Basic Predictions • Makes Two Basic Predictions: • Threats to one’s self-esteem heighten the need for ingroup favoritism • Expressions of ingroup favoritism enhance one’s self-esteem Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

39. Terror Management Theory • “thoughts of one’s own death creates existential terror and people manage this anxiety by convincing themselves that their view of the world is the correct one to hold.” • Mortality Salience (implicit versus explicit) • World View Defense Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

40. Diversity Philosophy • Take the Diversity Philosophy measure Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

41. Diversity Philosophy • Essentialism/Assimilation = the practice of categorizing a group based on artificial social constructions that impart an “essence” of that group, which homogenizes the group and effaces individuality and differences. The word implies that we are forming conclusions, relationships, and other cultural ties based only on the essential elements, as determined by “us”. It also implies that there is some minimal level of understanding that applies to groups. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

42. Diversity Philosophy • Tolerance = acceptance and open-mindedness of different practices, attitudes, and cultures; does not necessarily mean agreement with the differences. Implies an acknowledgement, or an acceptance or respect. Not necessarily an appreciation and usually consists of only surface level information. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

43. Diversity Philosophy • Multiculturalism = the practice of acknowledging and respecting the various cultures, religions, races, ethnicities, attitudes and opinions within an environment. The word does not imply that there is any intentionality occurring and primarily works from a group, versus individual, orientation. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

44. Diversity Philosophy • Inclusiveness = the practice of emphasizing our uniqueness in promoting the reality that each voice, when, valued, respected and expected to, will provide positive contribution to the community. Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute

45. What Did We Learn? • Tolerance is not enough! • Example from student • “I always prided myself on being tolerant. This exercise has made me ashamed of myself. I realized that tolerance is not enough. Tolerating someone does NOT counter hate.” Presented May 23, 2006 @ Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute