James M. Mahan and Frances V Rains

Much of the writing to date on multicultural education has described or prescribed courses or books as resources to help increase understanding and awareness. However, in his article on prejudice reduction, Pate (1981) stated that "facts or information about another group are not sufficient to change attitudes" (p. 288). A paucity of research has focused upon the concept of benefit of cultural immersion, experiential learning for teachers, whether preservice or inservice. Pate (198 1) further stressed that "in general, contact between different racial or ethnic groups does indeed reduce prejudice if certain conditions of the contact are met" (p. 290). Further, Wallace (1977) referred to the importance of learning about a different culture by living and participating within it:

Within the borders of the United States today, a variety of cultures abound. Multicultural education provides a vehicle for teachers to share with their students an understanding about the cultures that enrich this nation. The instructional effectiveness of teachers will depend on their own knowledge in this area. If their knowledge is limited to books and courses, then their ability to convey to students an awareness and understanding of the feelings, accomplishments, and aspirations of other peoples may be limited as well. Cultural immersion experiences may enhance teacher effectiveness when teaching about cultural differences and similarities. As an educator, Murray (1977) reflected:

At Indiana University, in the School of Education, a practicum exists that enables inservice teachers to broaden their knowledge and understanding of cultures through a cultural immersion field placement on an American Indian Reservation in the Southwest. The practicum description, including course characteristics, preparatory and on-site requirements, and spin-off activities and results, may be examined in the Appendix. Many readers may want to consider the feasibility of establishing a similar practicum in a Native American or non-Native American community. Therefore, approximate practicum costs and field placement procedures are available from the Cultural Immersion Projects, 321 Education Building, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405.

Although nationally not many inservice teachers become involved in a practicum of this nature, we are interested in the personal and professional outcomes resulting for the teachers who do participate. The purpose of this article is two-fold. The first intent is to reveal what stated changes occurred, personally or professionally, for participants as a result of a cultural immersion experience in American Indian communities. The second intent is to consider how these stated reported changes might be associated with the content or process of multicultural instruction. To determine the types of changes and/or growth experienced by the inservice teachers, a survey was developed and administered to each of 45 practicum participants. Their responses were tallied, and these data are presented in the tables that follow.

TABLE 1
Ethnically-Different Friends Reported by Participants
Prior to and Following the Cultural Immersion Experience

The first survey item required the participants to reflect upon the friendships they had with American Indians or Mexican Americans prior to and following their cultural immersion experience. It is important to note in Table 1 that the participants, who were all inservice teachers, had few Mexican American or American Indian friends prior to enrolling in the practicum. In fact, 36 of the participants responded that they had no previous friendships with American Indians. It appears that the experience of living with American Indians did facilitate friendship making, as evidenced by the dramatic rise in the number of friends reported ("post" mean = 8.42, as opposed to a "pre" mean = .31). Would having friends from different backgrounds alter their perspective upon multicultural education? For those teachers with little previous cultural immersion experience, friendships might bridge a possible gap between cultures in awareness and sensitivity to different cultural perspectives on issues, conditions, and mannerisms.

Item two of the survey was concerned with the number and nature of prior cultural immersion experiences of the participants. In a review of Table 2, notice that 10 of the 45 summer practicum participants had no prior cultural immersion experiences. The mean number of prior cultural experiences was small, only 1.31 for the 45 respondents. Furthermore, 47.7%, or 28 of the 59 experiences reported, were foreign in nature. The balance of the cultural immersion experiences were concentrated in the U.S. However, upon examination of these domestic experiences, none of them were genuine "immersion" experiences, as the foreign experiences primarily were. The largest percentage of these domestic experiences--23.76% (14 out of 59)--appeared in the "world of work," as opposed to the smaller percentage, 10.2% (6 out of 59) each for domestic experiences either as a house guest or as a student in integrated schools. A slightly smaller percentage (8.5% or 5 out of 59) of the domestic experiences revolved around cultural knowledge acquired through coursework.

It is interesting to note that domestic experiences for these inservice teachers are fewer in the combined areas of "integrated schools" and "coursework," than in the world of work. One might expect that these former kinds of experiences would be greater in number than the "world of work" experiences for classroom teachers who teach about multicultural education. However, these data suggest that many inservice educators still have their roots in the mainstream public schools and in rather homogeneous college classes. Consequently, it may be that the multicultural information they present to their students is characterized by a more narrow perspective and is less experience-based.

Item three concentrated upon the knowledge acquired about/from the Navajos, their culture and community. Because this article focuses on self-reported personal and professional changes made by practicum participants as a result of their learnings--important pieces of information and insights gained through Reservation experiences--the learnings undergirding reported changes are outlined in detail in Table 3. The data in Table 3 indicate that of the 227 responses generated by the 45 practicum participants, 68.7% are distributed nearly equally among three categories of "Economic, Political, Social Problems on the Reservation," "Characteristics of Navajo People," and "Strength and Beauty of the Navajo Culture" (23.8%, 23.3%, and 21.6% respectively). The remaining 31.3% of the responses fall into the categories of "Navajo Relations with the U.S. and World" (10.6%), "Cultural Values of Navajos" (10.6%), and "Family and Clan Social Organization" (10. 1%). Subsequent sections of this article will reveal that these learnings, which evolved over the course of participants’ cultural immersion experiences on Indian Reservations, undergird the personal and professional changes reported to have occurred in both thinking and behavior.

TABLE 2
Type and Number of Cross-Cultural Experiences Completed Prior to
Participation in the American Indian Reservation Summer Practicum

Number of Participants*

TYPE A: FOREIGN ORIENTED EXPERIENCES

TYPE R: CULTURAL EXPERIENCES THROUGH WORLD OF WORK

TYPE C: EXPERIENCES AS A STUDENT IN INTEGRATED U.S. SCHOOLS/COLLEGES

TYPE D: SHORT STAYS AS HOUSE GUEST IN U.S.

TYPE E: CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE THROUGH COURSEWORK. IN U.S. UNIVERSITIES

Item four on the survey examined the personal changes or adaptations that the inservice teachers made in accommodating to the Navajo cultural milieu. Hoopes (1980) discussed the realizations that extend from being in, or learning from, another culture. He stated:

TABLE 3
Personal Learnings From/About Native Americans

Number of Participants*

TYPE A: ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, SOCIAL PROBLEMS ON THE RESERVATION

TYPE B: CHARACTERISTICS OF NAVAJO PEOPLE

TYPE C: STRENGTH AND BEAUTY OF THE NAVAJO CULTURE

TYPE D: NAVAJO RELATIONS WITH U.S. AND WORLD

TYPE E: CULTURAL VALUES OF NAVAJOS

*45 practicum participants generated 227 responses (an average of about 5 "learnings" per participant)

Many of the personal adaptations that the respondents listed appear to reflect some of what Hoopes (1980) called "cultural self-awareness." There was a recognition of needs to behave differently than the respondents normally did (i.e., "I listened much more than I usually do," I just plain slowed down, tried to be ‘less hyper"’). There were self-discoveries as well (i.e., "Overcame my shyness and learned to join in," "Learned to laugh at myself . . . and not take myself so seriously").

The personal changes enumerated in Table 4 stimulate many important questions that cannot be answered without additional data. Educators committed to improving multicultural education must for-ego conventional certainty and ask hard or discomforting questions. Had a guest speaker representing a different culture come into the inservice teachers’ classrooms periodically, would these types of personal changes or adaptations in their behavior still have occurred? Would the inservice teachers even have considered such personal changes, whether temporary or permanent, if they were getting their information about the Navajo culture solely from books or courses? What kind of effects might such changes (i.e., "I listened much more than I usually do," "I talked far less--and thought before I spoke," "I practiced being modest, observant, cautious, non-aggressive," "I practiced being more patient") have on their sensitivity to other people from backgrounds and cultures different from their own? What could be assumed or implied about the inservice teachers’ own cultures from such responses? Is it possible that such changes could carry over into their personal lives after they return, affecting perhaps how they perceive or approach family, friends, situations, or problems? Had there been American Indian students in the inservice teachers’ classrooms instead of these teachers experiencing cultural immersion on a Reservation, would these same types of changes or adaptations of their own personalities have taken place? Upon whom and under what conditions does the need or responsibility to change the self normally fall? These changes may have occurred because the inservice teachers were "outsiders" on the turf of American Indians. Conversely, if American Indians were the "outsiders" coming into the teachers’ back home classrooms, would the American Indians bear the responsibility to change? To what degree do teachers change their students? To what degree do students change the attitudes, perceptions, and instructional procedures of their teachers?

TABLE 4
Personal Changes Made During Reservation Experience*

In an article about two teachers who had various culture immersion experiences, Wilson (1983) stated, ". . . other individuals besides teachers gain in knowledge about other cultures and about themselves through cultural experience. The test for teachers is to transfer and share that knowledge in the classroom" (p. 8 1). Item five examines what new knowledge gained from the cultural immersion experience the respondents planned on implementing/incorporating upon returning to their regular classrooms.

The authors believe that the success of the immersion experience is illuminated most strongly within this section of the survey. Of all the responses and sections in Table 5, those of greatest interest to the authors are Types A through D. Not only are the inservice teachers’ strong feelings about these professional changes reflected in the large percentages, but also the teachers produced a variety of ideas illustrating how they plan to apply what they have gained/learned from the cultural immersion experience.

The greatest percentage (39.3%) of "incorporations" rests in the first "type,"--Creation of New Courses or Revision of Existing Courses. Within this category, many ideas were generated from the immersion experiences of the teachers. Notice that the "incorporations" are not limited to any one content area (e.g., social studies); instead the subjects range from art to field experiences for students. Also note that many of the "incorporations" extended to American Indians in general, rather than just to the Navajo tribe exclusively. Could one assume that these experiences facilitate some generalizations and instructional transfers to cultural groups different from the group which hosts the participant?

Type B--Books and Audio-Visual Materials--has the second greatest percentage (18.6%) of "incorporations" listed by the respondents. This section of the table, in contrast with Type A above reflects more in-depth awareness of a specific tribe. The majority of the "incorporations" listed here were related to participants’ direct experience with Navajo Indians. Selected printed materials about Navajo people were very prominent and very procurable in the geographic placement area of these respondents.

For Type C, Examination/Appreciation of Another Culture, 13.6% of the respondents listed an "incorporation." In this area as in Type A, the range of cultures was not limited to merely the Navajos; the emphasis was extended to other cultures as well. The hints that teacher adaptation in one cultural community might transfer or generalize to another, different cultural community, are encouraging.

TABLE 5
Professional Changes Resulting From Reservation Experience

Number of Responses*

TYPE A: CREATION OF NEW COURSES OR MAJOR COURSE REVISIONS

TYPE B: BOOKS AND AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIALS

TYPE C: EXAMINATION/DISCUSSION/APPRECIATION OF ANOTHER CULTURE

TYPE D: CHANGES IN SOCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL PERSONALITY

TYPE E: TEACHING DESIGNED TO RECOGNIZE/REDUCE CULTURAL STEREOTYPING AND DISCRIMINATION

TYPE F: NEW PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

TYPE G: MISCELLANEOUS

*45 practicum participants generated 140 responses (X = 3.1)

Type D refers to Changes In Social and Professional Personality of the respondents. Although only 12.8% of the responses fall into this category, its significance should not be overlooked. There is evidence, by way of the "incorporations" listed, that a reflection and transfer of the attitudinal/emotional meanings of the cultural immersion experience, have affected the participants personally. As a result of their experiences, the respondents indicated changes they recognized as influential upon their development, whether personal or professional. There appears to be a relationship between the reported changes in their social or professional personality and the adaptations they made when immersed in the Navajo culture (see Table 4). In examining these changes, the impression is that prior to the immersion experience certain behaviors or "incorporations" were not practiced. For example, ". . . more laughing at my own mistakes" and ". . . listen to my students more . . ." might be construed as behaviors that were less frequently exercised before. Considering the transfer of some of these changes from the temporary, cultural immersion experience, to a more permanent circumstance in the professional arena, what might that indicate about the inservice teachers’ attitudes toward their own culture’s behaviors or mannerisms? In other words, could this transfer of changes reflect a recognition of the culture they are members of and at the same time an assessment that perhaps some of the behaviors of their past were not always unchallengeable. Perhaps, the changes here reveal the behaviors of their past as acceptable until confronted or exposed to a different way of seeing/doing/ living.

The last three sections (types) attracted fewer responses and lower percentages. Certainly, it would be desirable to have more new Anglo-American/Indian personal relationships incorporated into back home teaching. However, the 1700 to 2200 miles separating Reservation citizens and participants tend to limit severely future face-to-face or telephone interaction.

Commendable self-reported changes in teacher attitudes or behaviors evolving from a challenging practicum in an American Indian community have been reported. Unfortunately, no systematic and well structured research effort to determine whether self-reported changes are classroom implemented and maintained has been launched. When sufficient funding can be obtained, that very significant research will be designed and accomplished. There are fortuitous, documented situations and occasional reports or discoveries that provide some evidence that cultural practicum learnings and changes are preserved, used, valued, and demonstrated in the professional life of the teacher after the practicum is completed. For example, consider reports from, and actions taken, by past participants with whom the authors have had follow-up interaction.

Ni Ting, Cheryl, Roberta, Beth, Larry, Ed, Frances, Kelly, Patricia, Tanya, Nancy, Deanna, Betsy, William, Janina, Joan, Carol, Cynthia, Gigi, Judy, Mark, Delbert, and May all put their new sensitivity to American Indian values and their new cultural knowledge to important professional use. May remained on the Reservation to assist in the organization and management of a rug weaver’s guild while Mark became an audio-visual specialist and grantwriter at a community controlled school. Delbert and Frances ordered culturally oriented A-V films for their mid-west high schools and presented them to students - so did Joan and Cynthia. Ni Ting used the cultural materials she gathered/constructed to broaden the syllabus of the course she teaches--so did Larry in Chicago. Roberta and Betsy relocated to the Navajo Reservation and assumed important administrative/counseling responsibilities in community controlled schools. A college course syllabus was changed to include Native American cultural values and issues by Tanya and William. Cheryl, Janina, Carol, and Kelly all elected to prepare written materials and artifacts relevant to Native Americans for display and use in museums. Nancy and Deanna used self-made A-V materials and their practicum diaries as they conducted inservice teacher sessions "back home" and lectured to local church groups about Native Americans. Beth, Gigi, Patricia, Judy (and others) resigned from teaching positions in the mid-west and took teaching positions in federal and state schools on the Navajo Reservation. Ed served for two years as a volunteer teacher in a Reservation alternative school. These 23 past participants seem to have affirmed Indian values and new Indian knowledge by making their professional activities more multicultural than they were prior to involvement in the practicum. It can be hoped that the other 200 graduates of the practicum made important instructional, curricular, social, and attitudinal follow-ups as well.

Grant (1986) compared two studies concerned with the impact of "education that is multicultural" (EMC) on preservice teachers as they student teach. In his discussion of the comparison, he stated:

If, as Grant (1986) and Pate (1981) suggested, exposure to facts or knowledge about another group are not enough to alter teaching behaviors or attitudes, then perhaps this practicum offers some hope that a cultural immersion experience that is guided and positive can/may impact teaching behavior, at least of inservice teachers. As Janeway (1977) remarked:

If we want educators to teach/assist students to become aware of the rich and varied composition of this culturally diverse nation, then perhaps there is an obligation for the inservice teachers to gain experience and awareness, first. They cannot teach what they do not know or understand. Ignorance breeds fear . . . or at least it fosters avoidance. If we want educators to teach about awareness and understanding of the pluralistic society in which their students are members, then perhaps it is necessary for these teachers to have some direct cultural interaction in a situation or circumstance where the educator is the major learner. Perhaps, a cultural immersion experience is a long neglected first step in inservice teacher education. The authors believe that a cultural immersion practicum similar to the one described above can be both personally rewarding and professionally beneficial in enhancing the growth and development of inservice teachers for a culturally pluralistic country.

Grant, C. A. (1986). Education that is multicultural and the relationship between preservice campus learning and field experiences. Journal of Educational Research, 79 (4), 197-204.

Hoopes, D. S. (1980). Intercultural education. (Phi Delta Kappa Fastback # 142). Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.

Janeway, A. (1977). The experiential approach to cross-cultural education, In D. Batchelder and E. Warner (Eds.) Beyond Experience. The Experiential Approach to Cross-cultural Education (pp. 159-174). Brattleboro, VT. The Experiment Press.

Pate, G.S. (1981). Research on prejudice reduction. Educational Leadership, 38 (4), 288-291.

Wallace, J.A. (1977). The educational values of experiential education. In D. Batchelder and E. Warner (Eds.) Beyond Experience: The Experiential Approach to Cross-cultural Education (pp. 23-27). Brattleboro, VT. The Experiment Press.

Wilson, A.H. (1983). A case study of two teachers with cross-cultural experience: They know more. Educational Research Quarterly, 8 (1), 78-85.

Appendix
Outline of Summer Cultural Practicum
on American Indian Reservations