1. Native American Cultures
Tagler, M. J., Brown, E. A., Chambers, A. M., & Miadich, S. A. (2010, April 30). Are Attitudes Toward Sleep Related to Sleep Habits? Presentation at the 2010 meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
A Critical Examination of Teachers' Attitudes and Sense of Efficacy Toward Teaching About
Native American Cultures
Christopher L. Thomas1, Edwin Schupman2, Joshua A. Heath1, Alex Bourdeau1, Jerrell C. Cassady1
Purpose
Results
Discussion
Existing research exploring Native American portrayals in standard educational materials repeatedly demonstrates they provide incomplete and inaccurate representations (Sanchez, 2007). Unfortunately, the Eurocentric views dominating instructional materials create classroom experiences responsible for perpetuating negative stereotypes and misinformation about Native American cultures (Banks, 2005; Helms et al., 2010).
Driven by generations of faulty educational material and a mission to advance culturally appropriate and historically accurate content, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) has implemented Native Knowledge 360 (NK 360 ) – a national initiative to inspire and promote improved teaching and learning about Native Americans. The components of NK 360 include the creation of high-quality new learning resources, teacher training programs, and a national network of partners.
To establish need for this initiative, NMAI is supporting an ongoing, nationwide data collection effort to assess educators’ beliefs, attitudes, and needs related to teaching about Native American culture and history.
The current study utilized a mixed-method approach to explore educators’ attitudes toward Native Americans, perceptions of their ability to teach about topics related to Native American history, cultures, and contemporary lives, and factors interfering with their ability to provide accurate and culturally appropriate information to their students.
Quantitative Analysis
To explore the underlying structure of our survey instrument, we conducted an Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA) using Principal Axis Factoring with Promax rotation. EFA results revealed three subscales addressing (a) general attitudes of fairness and equity toward Native Americans, (b) the influence of state and national standards educational practices related to Native American history and culture, and (c) teaching efficacy and content knowledge related to the Native American topics.
Qualitative Analysis
A descriptive analysis of educators’ perceptions and experiences (i.e., open-ended items) revealed the following themes:
Strict focus on state and national standards
“With the intense push for STEM-related topics, social studies courses are among the first to be cut. As requirements get reduced, topics are streamlined, or superficially covered.” – male middle and high school teacher - Iowa.
“focus of standards....I liked when there was a standard specifically on the Impacts Europeans coming to the Americas had on Native Americans” – Female Middle School teacher – Ohio
Biased and inaccurate information in current educational materials.
“Textbooks are biased - very limited picture of things (and pictures are often completely awful) Any inclusion in typically about 'native Americans' without specific information on that particular tribe, their culture or their people. “ – Female Pre-K teacher - Minnesota.
“Historical topics seem to be continually "white washed" for political correctness” - Female Middle School teachers – Florida
Teacher’s lack of content knowledge.
“Teachers themselves are not educated on this topic.” - Female Elementary School teacher – Rhode Island.
“Being knowledgeable enough to teach it.” – Female Middle School Teacher – Minnesota.
While teachers largely possess positive attitudes of fairness and equity toward Native American history, cultures, and contemporary lives, collected survey data suggests they believe they fall short of effectively teaching their students on these topics.
An in-depth analysis of open-ended responses revealed this lack of confidence can be traced to several factors.
Consistent with prior research, educators in the current study reported having limited access to quality educational materials that provide an accurate representation of Native American history, cultures, and contemporary lives. Educators also reported recent changes to state and national standards – emphasizing coverage of STEM-related topics – that does not allow them the time or resources necessary to provide an adequate overview of Native American history, cultures, and contemporary lives. Perhaps most concerning, a large portion of educators felt their teacher education programs did not provide them the content knowledge required to effectively teach about topics related to Native American history, cultures, and contemporary lives in their classrooms.
Overall, our examination solidifies the importance of supporting initiatives – such as Native Knowledge 360 – that are dedicated to the development of quality educational materials that can support culturally responsive curricula.
Factor Loadings for Exploratory Factor Analysis With Promax Rotation of Survey Items
Question
Efficacy (α=.88)
Attitudes (α=.80)
Standards (α=.93)
It is important that all students be educated on American Indian culture
-.03
.95
-.04
It is important that all students be educated on historical contributions of American Indians.
.17
.82
.00
Most teachers have the ability to effectively teach about the historical contributions of American Indians.
.76
.10
.05
Most teachers have the ability to effectively teach about contemporary issues relevant to American Indians.
.83
.14
-.07
Most teachers possess the content knowledge required to effectively teach historical contributions of American Indians.
.63
-.23
.04
Most teachers possess the content knowledge required to effectively teach contemporary issues relevant to American Indians.
.60
-.17
.02
National or state standards interfere with my ability to effectively teach historical contributions of American Indians.
-.01
.01
.94
National or state standards interfere with my ability to effectively teach about contemporary issues relevant to American Indians.
.93
Subscale Mean Scores (Standard Deviation)
4.67 (.45)
2.35 (.77)
3.24 (.98)
Note: An item was determined to be associated with a factor if its loading was .3 or greater.
Procedure
Educators (N = 89, Female = 59%; Average Teaching Experience = 17 years) teaching in K – 12 classrooms across the United States completed:
A brief questionnaire designed to assess perceptions of fairness and equity related to Native American educational materials as well as their perceived efficacy to teach about Native American history and culture.
Open-ended items exploring their perception of factors that interfere with the teaching of historical and contemporary topics related to Native Americans.
To analyze the open-ended responses, we established a coding scheme to identify dominant themes appearing in the data. After the main codes were agreed upon, two raters independently coded all responses ( .80). In the event of discordant coding from the 2 coders, a third trained rater resolved the conflict.
Contact
Christopher L. Thomas
Department of Educational Psychology
Ball State University
Affiliations
espace.bsu.edu/rds
1 :Ball State University
2 :Smithsonian NMAI
Tagler, M. J., Brown, E. A., Chambers, A. M., & Miadich, S. A. (2010, April 30). Are Attitudes Toward Sleep Related to Sleep Habits? Presentation at the 2010 meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.