Addressing Students' Needs: Students of Different Backgrounds

Adapted with permission from Shari Saunders and Diana Kardia; Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, University of Michigan, adapted from Chism et al., 1992.

It is vital that you view every student as a unique individual regardless of the student's cultural background, while at the same time respecting multiple cultural heritages and their impact on learning styles and classroom expectations. This is not a simple task, and there is no simple way to accomplish it. You cannot be prepared for every possible situation that might arise. Instead, focus on being open to different perspectives, being aware of stereotypes and prejudiced behavior in your class, and being ready to help every student in your class become engaged in the material and learn.

For instance, you would do well to try incorporating the achievements of Latino scientists into your curriculum to encourage and inspire Latino students. However, if the approach appears to be an act of tokenism, some of your students might feel as if they are being singled out or patronized. A better approach is to try and make the material relevant to students of many backgrounds whenever possible - even if your class does not contain every single demographic. Such an approach will benefit all of your students in expanding their knowledge and perspective.

You also should remember that the fact that a student is African American does not mean she or he will be able to or desire to speak about famous African Americans in science. Allowing students to express their views is beneficial whenever possible, but you should never expect someone to "speak for their people." Every student is a different person, and should only be asked to speak for himself or herself.

Adult Learners

The number of non-traditional students or "adult learners" in the classroom continues to increase. Adult learners are typically defined as students over the age of 25 who are returning to school after several years away from the classroom. For obvious reasons, the types of challenges facing a 45-year-old business woman or a 50-year-old father are going to be different than those of 18-23 year old students. Adult learners tend to expect practical and relevant application of materials, as well as meaningful assignments that do not feel like "busy work." In engineering or computer science, especially, some adult learners may have been working in related careers since before you were in high school. In some cases they may have a much better practical understanding of the course material than you do. Nevertheless, as a TA or instructor, you still have a great deal to offer them.

You should be aware that adult learners, particularly those attending class part-time, can have much more intensive and unexpected non-academic demands on their time than other students. Care of sick children, work deadlines, work travel, and death of parents are just a few possibilities. Being flexible about such needs whenever possible is important. It can be a difficult task to balance the acceptance of late work and makeup exams while not appearing to favor one student over another.

Another difficulty which may affect adult learners more than younger students is the accessibility of campus social networks. Depending on the class and circumstance, many students could have access to previous exams and assignments from friends who have taken the course before. Students with limited campus social networks may not have access to these resources. If you know that many of your students are sharing old exams or have access to homework solutions, consider making these resources available to everyone.

When possible, it can help to talk to adult learners individually about their expectations of the class and any special circumstances that may affect their participation. It can seem intimidating to teach someone older than yourself. The most important thing to remember is that you have the same goals in mind - a valuable learning experience.

Educational Background

You can assist under-prepared students, especially those at the introductory level, by being sensitive to their needs. Students often lack numerical perspective, have an exaggerated appreciation for meaningless coincidence, or have a credulous acceptance of pseudoscience (Paulos, 1988). By better understanding the nature and extent of some of these problems in a class, you can tailor discussions, readings, and problem sets to address these difficulties directly rather than ignoring, overlooking, or avoiding them.

Language

Students who can converse in English and read the language reasonably well can still have difficulty learning the specialized vocabularies of the sciences and understanding classroom presentations, particularly in large lectures.

If you feel that it is important to know whether students speak or understand other languages, you should ask this question of all students, not just those to whom you think the question applies. If there are concerns about students' academic writing skills, it would be best to meet with the students during office hours to discuss their work. One of the questions you could ask as part of your data gathering protocol is, "What were the languages spoken in the environment in which you were raised?" Following this question with appropriate probing questions would give you an opportunity to find out whether students are native speakers of English and, if not, how recently they became fluent. It is important to identify the source of students' difficulties with writing (or speaking), because identification of the factors that contribute to these problems will influence the actions taken to address the problems.

You should find out if your students are unfamiliar with specialized language. Many words that scientists view as common are completely unknown to students. Several times during a term, ask students to jot down every unfamiliar word used in class that day. The words that appear most often on student responses should be defined and explained at the beginning of the next class. By showing an effort to speak in terms that students can understand, as well as teaching the students this new language and its vocabulary, teachers can help students to view themselves as partners in the learning process. If you make it a practice not only to define technical terms but to point out routinely how the different parts of the unfamiliar term contribute to its meaning, students will become familiar with prefixes, suffixes, and roots of technical terms, and they will be better able to discern the meanings of other words that contain these elements.

Discussing language, either a language from another country or a U.S. dialect, is often a sensitive issue with students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Students with language difficulties need to know, first of all, that their language of origin is respected. It is important to remember that all languages are culturally bound. Using visuals, synonyms, and examples when lecturing or in examination questions helps those with different language backgrounds to understand what is being communicated.