Ines marquez chisholm

Further Exploration

The development and implementation of a teacher preparation program that weaves computer competency with the requisite theoretical and practical knowledge and skills for multicultural education calls for additional research on culture and technology. Although researchers have examined the effectiveness of particular programs or applications for specific groups of learners, there remains a lack of information on the interaction between educational computing and such cultural and individual preferences as:

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  acceptance of noise or silence;
  
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  need for physical activity and mobility;
  
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  disposition towards working alone or with others,
  
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  preference for independent unsupervised work or guided, supervised work;
  
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  response to personal and impersonal rewards;
  

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  response to personal and impersonal work environments;
  

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  preference for formal or informal classroom settings, acceptability of public feedback or criticism, predilection for intuitive, creative tasks or for concrete, objective tasks;
  
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  inclination for memorization and repetition;
  
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  partiality towards highly structured tasks or open-ended work, and
  
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  preference for visual tasks requiring observation or for tasks requiring listening and speaking.
  

An examination of preferences such as these in relation to various classroom practices, teacher behaviors, and classroom interactional patterns will help educators understand how culture, learning preferences, and teaching/learning behaviors inter-relate in culturally diverse classrooms. If we can determine how to integrate the computer effectively into classroom procedures and learning activities, we will gain greater insight into the effective use of computers. Such research will help teachers make informed decisions about the use of educational computing in their classrooms.

Correspondence

Ines Marquez Chisholm, Education and Human Services, Arizona State University West, PO Box 37100, Phoenix, Arizona 85069-7100, USA. Fax: [phone]. Email: [e-mail]