Chapter Questions
After reading this chapter, what new ideas and understandings do you have about the meaning of culture?
What is the role of culture in learning and teaching? Why is it essential to implement a complex understanding of culture in the classroom? What does this involve?
How does the way in which culture is described in this chapter differ from the tourist?based approaches to culture that are common in schools and classrooms?
How do the ways in which culture is understood and used in schools differ from the ways in which it is understood and applied in anthropology? How can these two ways of understanding culture be blended to improve learning in schools?
How does a complex understanding of culture help to reduce stereotypes of groups of people? What are the implications of a deep understanding of culture for teaching and learning?
How can teachers’ understanding of their own cultural practices help them to put culture to work in the classroom?
What problems result when teachers essentialize students according to their culture?
What does it mean to say that culture is complex, fluid, and hybrid? Why is it important for educators to understand complex cultural ways of being?