An increasing number of multicultural students are attending U.S. public schools. At a Title I elementary school in a rural region of the southern United States, multicultural students had not met academic standards as measured by state exams, and state scores had been very low for 5 consecutive years. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the instructional strategies used by Grade 4 teachers in helping multicultural students pass state tests. The conceptual framework was Vygotsky's theory of cognitive and social constructivism and Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. The foci of research questions were on identifying teachers' instructional strategies and clarifying why those strategies are used. Nine teachers who had taught in multicultural classrooms were selected via purposive sampling and were interviewed individually. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Themes that emerged included the use of educational software, students' learning styles, and differentiation of instruction. Key findings indicated that these Grade 4 teachers incorporated students' background knowledge and interests into lessons and educational resources authored by multicultural authors. The resulting project was a professional development program for Grade 4 teachers of multicultural students that includes a workshop, PowerPoint presentation, an executive summary, and instructional strategies. These findings will help teachers improve their instructional strategies, which will, in turn, enance the learning of these Grade 4 students.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:waldenu.edu/oai:scholarworks.waldenu.edu:dissertations-4209 |
| Date | 01 January 2016 |
| Creators | Hill, James Hill |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks |
| Source Sets | Walden University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies |
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