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Cultural Awareness

Ronald C. Levine
Worcester East Middle School, Worcester, Massachusetts

Subject: Social Studies
Grade: 8

"...in lieu of a standard exam, the class was assigned to take a series of 24 photographs, through which each student would demonstrate his/her grasp of the subject matter."

Purpose and Description of Project

Ronald Levine's project was designed as an introduction to awareness of cultures. Students were to study different aspects of world cultures and complete a photographic essay that demonstrated understanding of the subject. His goals were to develop organizational skills, create student-parent involvement in the learning process, and allow students to use the camera as a means of expressing an understanding of cultures and of expressing their own creativity.

Activities

First, the class lessons helped the students define the term "culture." Subsequent lectures and discussions led to understanding the concepts of norm, fashion, environment, status and corresponding status symbol, ceremony, etiquette, class structure, nuclear family, extended family, status relation, generation gap, and indoctrination. Small student groups discussed these terms in relation to their own lives and culture, and also how they had themselves become products of acculturation.

The students were then given one week to take pictures of people and objects in their lives that best exemplified the meanings of the above terms. During that time students discussed particular problems in small peer groups and with Levine.

Once the photos were taken and developed, students arranged their photos on posterboard in a manner that best demonstrated their individual culture. Each student explained why she or he took each photo, which became a positive experience in terms of peer relationships.

Materials, Resources, and Expenses

Each student's entire family became a valuable resource which he or she utilized to realize a successful outcome. Students also used cameras belonging to the school and to individual students, and 24-exposure color film. Thus, project costs were kept to a minimum.

Outcomes and Adaptability

According to Levine, "The process of thinking and choosing the examples that would best fulfill their own interpretation of such words as 'ceremony,' 'status,' and 'family' made this project extremely valuable in the process of learning about themselves, their relationships, and their culture." Students were motivated throughout the lecture portions of the project because they knew they would have to make practical use of the information. They showed excellent thought and organizational skills in selecting and arranging their photos. But for Levine, the most rewarding aspect was the parent-child relationship that developed as the parents became an integral part of their child's educational process.

Levine states that because the project is so simple and because each student is, in effect, defining his or her own culture, the project is adaptable to any setting in any classroom or community.

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