Connection between Culture, Diversity, and Learning: A Brief Primer

Kurt Fischer and L. Todd Rose (2001) have found that there is a relationship between how our students learn and their respective diverse communities and life experiences.  A basis for this relationship is built from what Fischer and Rose (2001) have dubbed a “constructive web of skills” (p.6).  This web represents the process by which individuals build complex strands of knowledge incubated by socially dynamic environments (Bronfenbrenner, 1986).  John Ogbu (1992) has provided findings that illustrate the significant link between incorporating a student’s culture and the process of learning.  For example, Ogbu (1992) states that “the crucial issue in cultural diversity and learning is the relationship between the minority cultures and the American mainstream culture” (p.5).  As such, the facilitation of learning should include a bridging of these cultures. And arguably, from a socio-historical perspective (Edwards, 2007; Ogbu, 1992), “the American mainstream culture” is clearly oppositional to minority communities by affecting individual self-efficacy and motivation of minority students (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000; Green & et.al, 2012; King & McInerney, 2014).