Developing Multicultural Awareness in Preschool Children: A Pilot Intervention

Author(s)

Samantha Bellini
Vanessa Pereda
Nicole Cordero
Lourdes Suarez-Morales, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Open Journal of Social Sciences

ISSN

2327-5960

Publication Date

2016

Abstract

The increasing diversity of the U.S. population presents a need to address developing stereotypes. Racial and ethnic attitudes and biases can develop at young ages. The current study examined a pilot classroom intervention, which exposed preschool children to different cultures and considered the intervention’s influence on racial attitudes. Sixteen preschool students in two classrooms were randomly assigned to the experimental condition, multicultural themed lessons, or the control condition, animal themed lessons. Attitudes about children of various ethnicities were assessed before and after the intervention. Variables considered included same group bias and outgroup bias. The results indicated that children who received the multicultural intervention changed favorably their attitudes towards children of other ethnicities compared to children who did not receive the experimental intervention. This study demonstrates that attitudes and biases towards others may be influenced through early education and increased awareness.

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jss.2016.47028

Volume

4

Issue

7

First Page

182

Last Page

189

NSUWorks Citation

Bellini, S., Pereda, V., Cordero, N., Suarez-Morales, L. (2016). Developing Multicultural Awareness in Preschool Children: A Pilot Intervention. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 4(7), 182-189.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/1578