I have quite a bit of background when it comes to lab assisting, however most of my experience is with primarily white, well off students. I never even thought to take into account the different ethnicity of the students. I had always taken into account the reason for white people taking science courses for the great fame and, primarily, fortune that comes with it. Yet never once did I consider an alternative reason for the few non-white students taking it.
I had prided myself on getting to know names and the superficial reasons as to why someone was taking the course, but never did I think as to the real reason for the course. I think back to the students I was a TA for last semester and how I poorly approached the reasoning as to taking the course, thus making it difficult for myself to present science in a manner that is interesting.
Nice post!
ReplyDeleteI think it's also interesting to become aware of differences even within seemingly homogeneous populations. My colleagues at schools with more diverse student populations assume that teaching here is easier than, say, Tucson. But I have to remind them that each population of students is unique. Many of my students are from rural towns, with populations sizes smaller than the course in which they are enrolled! This presents its own type of challenge to student learning.