Discovering Pedagogical Influences: the Impact of Ethnicity and Gender Representation in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

For the past decade, we have written and discussed the importance of teaching and the role of the teacher in the classroom. There continues to be reams of research on the significance of teacher preparation and understanding the implications of ethnicity, gender and diversity within the context of teacher knowledge, skills and dispositions. We suggest that, almost paradoxically, the best way to enhance the human dimension of the learning process is to work on explicitly addressing the same issues through meaningful racial discourse and action research with those who plan to teach in America's schools. We propose to explore the personal development and deeper meanings, seek purpose, and understand the power of transcendence. This article focuses on dolls, gender, discovery and metacognitive thought that are major elements in an action research project set in an undergraduate social justice and diversity course. Discovery by undergraduate third year students was obtained through active involvement, observation, interaction and discourse, reflection, intuition and personal experiences.