Annotated Web-based Multicultural Resource Directory
MULTICULTURAL RESOURCES FOR TEACHING
The following electronic resources are recommended by the faculty at IU East.
ü Multicultural Lesson Plans and Resources – This website contains multiple websites included on this one site. There are lesson plans for every age group, across a wide variety of topics.
udnet.com/~edrbsass/edmulticult.htm
ü Multicultural Education and the Internet – This website is sponsored by McGraw Hill and features websites that covers the topics of math and science.
e.com/socscience/education/multi_new/sites/math.html
ü National Geographic – Award winning website that covers a variety of topics which include beautiful photos and lesson plans.
www.nationalgeographic.com/
ü Peace Corp – You can follow the link on the left of the website, under The Classroom to find useful links to use in the classroom.
cecorps.gov
ü Radical Math – There are over 700 articles, websites, and other resources about multicultural resources and Math.
icalmath.org/
ü Teaching Tolerance – Southern Poverty Law Center sponsors this website which includes lesson plans, film kits, classroom resources, movie guides, and curriculum.
erance.org/activities
ü World Health Organization – The World Health Organization is the sponsor of this website. The topics are alphabetized by health topics as well as links to countries around the world that belong to the WHO.
.int/research/en/
Content Area Resources
Social Studies
ref.org/cgi/Social Studies/Multicultural Education
Rating***Recommended
This website is called Lesson Plans and is sponsored by Educator’s Reference Desk. It gives lesson plans for Social Studies grades K-12. The plans encompass a wide range of topics dealing with multicultural education. Some plans compare the outside and inside of apples showcasing the idea of being different on the outside but the same on the inside. Other plans involve parents and the use of music from other cultures. Most lessons deal with the global idea of multiculturalism not with specific cultures. KLM
/Lesson Plans/Social Studies/ Grades K-2/Culture Diversity/index.shtml
***Recommended
This site is sponsored by Lesson Planz and shows different lessons that can be done with primary students about culture and diversity. It has topics about a specific culture or celebration. It has other lessons that highlight some themes of humanity such as being treated equally and sharing the same feelings. KLM
sonplanz.com/Lesson Plans/Social Studies/ Grades K-2/Culture Diversity/index.shtml
***Sponsored by Lesson Planz.com, A-Z Teacher Stuff L.L.C.
This website provides lessons that teach culture and diversity. Lessons vary from studying Mexico to lessons about Native Americans. The website has lesson plans for pre-school-high school. JB
cdigests.org/pre-9210/india
***Sponsored by ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education: Bloomington , IN
India is becoming more important in the global economy. To avoid the stereotypes and misinformation there should be information available that discusses their culture and history. Religion is a significant part of education. Teaching of this culture should be reflective in elementary through high school social studies classes. There is also a web link for the history of India. This site is for teachers of social studies. JD
mbeach.k12.fl.us/Multicultural/MulticulturalNew/MultiCurric.htm
*****Palm Beach County School District Department of Multicultural Education, Department of Multicultural Education Palm Beach County School District , West Palm Beach , FL
This website provides an entire multicultural curriculum that was designed by a school system for grades K-12. It integrates the lessons in social studies, science, and language arts. The website is user friendly and has lesson plans and resources that can be used and printed off for immediate use. JB
cities.com/_kurdistan/.html
***Abdullah, M. Poetry. In Awarakany Kurdistan . Retrieved June 25, 2008
This website is a personal website with photo gallery memorials of attacks the Kurds have suffered as well as cultural content. The target population would be people sympathetic with or interested in the Kurdish cause. In general, this site’s cultural content would be appropriate for high school language arts, although the photo memorials of mass killings would probably be unsuitable for all but the most mature students and maybe for a social studies oriented class. Although, we freely use pictures of Nazi camps when discussing Anne Frank, so perhaps the pictures are not too graphic. ND
enasol.com///.html
*** About the Kurds – Retrieved June 25, 2008
This is a personal website that contains a section on racial and ethnic struggles going on around the world. The page on Kurds provides more of the same background on the Kurds in a more ‘plain language’ approach. The material is credited to a third source, but the web address for that person on the Carnegie-Melon University site is defunct. Though I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the info, it does pose a problem when students research and can’t verify what they find. This site could be used as an exercise in verifying research. ND
titutkurde.org///
****Blau, J . The Kurdish Language and Literature , Retrieved June 25, 2008, from Foundation-Kurdish Institute of Paris
This page gives a brief history of the Kurdish people, their language and literacy history. It is informative, easy to read, and for the most part, objective. This could be used readily by most students from 7th grade on up. ND
http://newsocietyjournal.com///case-for-kurdistan/
**** The Case for Kurdistan . New Society: Harvard College Student Middle East Journal, Retrieved June 26, 2008
This page starts with a piece of Kurdish cultural history. The first three paragraphs recount a story passed down through generations about the creation of the Kurdish people. The rest of the article deals with Kurdish independence, a topic not unimportant in Kurdish culture. The story is actually rather graphic and probably best suited to high school. ND
dercide.org/_anfal.html
**** Case Study: The Anfal Campaign (Iraqi Kurdistan ), 1988 . From Gendercide Watch Web site. Retrieved June 25, 2008
This page is included for the same reason as the Hylan reference. It is just in a more compact, yet more graphic (photos) package. Given the attention paid to the Jewish Holocaust, this would be appropriate for high school. I think the fact that the pictures are in color make it a bit more difficult to look at, but properly prepared students should be okay. ND
dercide.org/.html
**** Genocide in Kurdistan . Retrieved June 25, 2008
This page is actually a 23,000+ word dissertation on the genocide of Kurds in Iraq under the reign of Sadam Hussein. So, given that, it is probably best suited for college bound students in high school. It does provide factual basics about Kurdish culture. More importantly, countries and races of people seem to have defining moments that heavily influence the literary and poetic products for years if not decades following the event. To read modern Kurdish writing (or any culture whose occupants have been exterminated in large numbers), and understand the driving force, you have to know the history. It doesn’t get any more thorough than this dissertation. ND
cities.com//.html
*** Kurdish Children’s Section from Kurdawary Website, Retrieved June 26, 2008
This is part of a larger personal website, but it is one of the few that has Kurdish content specifically for children, a vital part of any culture. It is a bit difficult to navigate and read. ND
.org/
***** Kurdistan Regional Government from Kurdistan Regional Government Website, Retrieved June 25, 2008
This site is the official website of the current Kurdish government and is included as a general reference of present Kurdish culture. It contains a vast store of information on culture, language, history, and life in general in the Kurdistan region. ND
//.htm
**** Kurd s from Library of Congress Website, Retrieved June 25, 2008
Since the Kurds are spread over multiple countries in the region, this page detailing Kurdish existence in Iran is helpful and factual, though a little dry. It was originally prepared by the Department of the Army. It is accessible to middle or high school populations. ND
.gov/history/nr/twhp/descrip.htm
****Teaching with Historic Places – National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places
TARGET POPULATION: designed for use by middle school educators but adaptable to
upper elementary and high school classrooms
A collection of lesson plans can be browsed by location/state, theme, time period and academic standards for history and social studies. Professional development materials and research information is also available. - Updated regularly; featured lessons and collections of lessons easy to implement; lessons limited to smaller target population. DHW
dspring.com/~cleanccl/index.html
**Holocaust Education for Children - TARGET POPULATION: K-4 Educators
Age/Grade-appropriate lesson plans and connections with other websites regarding the Holocaust are included. Lesson ideas are connected with read-aloud books. - The ideas are good, but not complete lesson plans; topics are age/grade-appropriate. DHW
therninstitute.info/
***The Southern Institute for Education and Research – Tulane University , New Orleans , Louisiana
TARGET POPULATION: Middle school, high school, undergraduate educators
Improving ethnic relations in the Deep South in the United States is the goal and resources cover Holocaust and Civil Rights education, Cross Cultural Communication Training and Survivor Oral Histories. Internet Bulletins are also available. - Personal connections with survivor stories; Workshops and conferences targeted to teachers in southern US; lessons focused on smaller number of reference books. DHW
mbeach.k12.fl.us/multicultural/MulticulturalNew/MultiCurric.htm
*****The Department of Multicultural Education – Palm Beach County School District
TARGET POPULATION: Adult Educators
This website is a resource created for educators in Florida’s Palm Beach County. The home page link has a Multicultural Curriculum Matrix that is used to organize information according to grade level in the areas of Social Studies, Language Arts, and Science. The Matrix contains a variety of topics and includes links to grade level appropriate lesson plans for each. (i.e. Haitian and Haitian-American Studies: K – Haiti How Do We Get There?; 1st – I’ll Fly Away; 2nd – Haitian Art; etc.) There is also ESOL Curriculum as well as Dual Language, World Language, and Holocaust Studies informational links. AJL
Mathematics
icalmath.org/docs/Sandkofa.pdf
*****Highly Recommended
The site is sponsored by Radical Math. Radical Math was founded in 2006 by a Brooklyn educator who is working to integrate issues of economic and social justice into math classes. This one is called “Sandkofa: Routes of Survival” for high school students. It is an algebra assignment that sets up a simulation of traders who traveled across the Sahara Desert to get gold and salt. It lays out the risks involved for the families such as being captured by slave traders, wild animal attacks, and local tribal differences. Students work on a variety of tasks during the mission by picking a family, supplies needed, and routes to travel. Then the students complete algebraic tasks all the while learning about the ways of this culture. The unit involves a variety of tasks such as modes, medians, means, and graphing. The plan also calls for students to write about the experience and explain mathematical work. It is hard to find ways to bring multiculturalism into this content area. The unit “Sandkofa” helps to bridge that gap in a meaningful way. KLM
ldstats.org
***
Teachers can go to this site and find exchange rates as well as other information about the world. Students can compare the currency of different countries. Information may be copied from the site provided that it is for educational purposes. TME
l.atiochsea.edu/~david_levine/WebQuest/
****Sponsored by University of St. Andrews , Scotland , Research Mathematicians in History
This is a WebQuest for 11-12th grade students. The task is to be completed in teams of 3 where each member is assigned an important educational role. There is a quality rubric for evaluating the final products. I chose this site due to the difficulty in finding an interesting way to study multicultural ideas in math at the high school level. RH
hange.org/multicultural/sites/math.html
*****Sponsored by edchange.org, The Multicultural Pavilion
A list of multicultural math education links aimed at teachers of all grades. Topics range from tutoring to Native American geometry. Great starting point although some links are dead. Some of the links on my list come from here. SB
ea.gatech.edu/scitrain/
****Sponsored by The Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access
This site provides free online training courses to math and science teachers to help be more effective with students with disabilities and ADHD. Topics range from class set-up to lecture and group work. Students with ADHD and students with vision or hearing impairments are targeted. Applies to grades 6-12. Registration required. SB
hnerds.com/mathnerds
*****Sponsored by The Meadows Foundation, Mathematics for English Language Learners (MELL) and Lamar University
This is an online tutoring site that provides hints and suggestions only from volunteers and is also available in Spanish. This site is committed to inquiry-based learning. I’m not sure how multicultural the word “nerd” is but it makes the list because of the Spanish availability. SB
esscott.edu/lriddle/women/women.htm
****Sponsored by Agnes Scott College , Biographies of Women Mathematicians
This is a very straight forward site that allows a search of a pretty extensive database of female mathematicians. This could apply to just about any teacher. SB
/alejandre/mathfair/mmflinks.html
***Sponsored by The Math Forum @ Drexel
This site provides links to cooperating sites with backgrounds like Navajo, Mayan, Indian and European. This site would be a good resource for any teacher with students that are not the traditional minority. SB
thmeasure.com/
***Sponsored by Earthmeasure.com, Native American Geometry
This site provides links to, among other things, a site dedicated to the origin and practice of Native American Geometry. By itself, it is worth a look to the site. Unfortunately, the site gives little else. SB
nemath.com/activities/pmactivitiesall.html
*****Sponsored by InfoUse and NASA, Plane Math
This site applies math and science abilities to the study of flight. It applies to grades 4-7, although I would have enjoyed this as a senior in physics. Its goal is to provide a way to study flight for those with disabilities. SB
/library/drmath/drmath.high.html
*****Sponsored by The Math Forum @ Drexel, Ask Dr. Math
This online tutoring site is using “Doctors” from colleges from all over the world. The site includes a FAQ section that corrals common questions into one section. It has sections for elementary to post secondary. Students with learning disabilities often do not like to ask questions in class, so this can be another resource for that student. SB