Heightening Multicultural Awareness in Education

Through technology and new digital modes of expression, our world is more interconnected than ever before.  Furthermore, our high-mobility society means our classrooms include students from a variety of backgrounds and cultures.  However, students continue to have a limited worldview because of their narrow personal experience.  In an attempt to encourage students to confront hidden biases, broaden perspectives, and become culturally aware, instructors can implement activities to heighten multicultural awareness.

Also termed culturally responsive practice (CRP), these theories and educational practices are intent on celebrating cultural diversity rather than viewing such characteristics as barriers to success (Franco et al, 2023).  While school districts and educators seek to address these concerns, they are not always aware of the best strategies and interventions to utilize.  This blog highlights several peer-reviewed, research-backed interventions to put into practice.

Setting the Standard

Effective CRP begins with critical consciousness, where teachers analyze their own attitudes, unconscious biases, and perspectives on the issues of race, nationality, and socio-economic background.  Reflection on “formative experiences with people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, including cross-racial childhood friendships and exposure via travel” can be enlightening for instructors.  (Franco et al., 2023).  An instructor’s background will impact their disposition towards and interaction with their multicultural students. In other words, instructors can influence the feelings of belonging their students may or may not feel in classroom communities.  On the other hand, if instructors have negative attitudes and mindsets about culturally responsive teaching, they will be resistant to implementing transformative cultural teaching (Liu et al., 2024).  Therefore, professional development on this subject is integral to improvements.

According to Okantey et al. (2024), learning about other cultures increases one’s understanding of, respect for, and ability to effectively work with diverse people.  In other words, this widening perspective develops one’s “cultural competence”.  Likewise, recognition of the weaknesses in one own’s culture or the power imbalances that exist in our society can bring cultural humility.  Cultural humility reminds us that we cannot fully know another’s experience, so we must remain open to gaining more insight throughout our lives.  As instructors continually strive to increase their cultural competence and humility, they can demonstrate inclusivity in their classrooms.  In addition, instructors may need to modify instruction based on cultural, language, and learning differences (Liu et al., 2024).  Patience in differentiation sets a positive tone for students.

Principles for Developing Cultural Awareness

According to Jaiswal et al. (2024), multicultural education is equally effective in online and face-to-face environments.  Therefore, these suggestions can be modified for either learning environment.

Build Relationships

Providing opportunities for students to develop relationships with one another through collaboration on projects and social network interactions is a valuable way to encourage students see the similarities in the humans experience and appreciate differences (Okantey et al., 2024).  Several studies have illustrated the efficacy of using social media networks (i.e. Whatsapp, WeChat) to build student engagement and create welcoming communities of learning (Durgungöz & Durgungöz, 2021; Pang, 2019). Furthermore, dialogue between students on discussion boards and in small group discussions helps build common ground.

Figure 1 

Multiracial students collaborating in classroom [AI-generated Image].

Note. “Multiracial students collaborating in classroom” by Thompson, 2025, Wix AI Image Creator.

Include Cultural Narratives

Narratives are one of the most powerful ways to gain insight into the lived experiences of people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.  We better comprehend the emotions, motivations, and mindset behind people’s choices and behavior.  Watching foreign films or refugee videos brings narratives alive for students.  Reading and analyzing poetry about the immigrant experience can widen their perspectives as well.

Incorporate Cultural References

Learning and incorporating cultural references in classroom simulations, case studies, and role plays can benefit the cultural perspectives of students. Indeed, Liu et al. (2024) reports that knowledge retention improves when instructors use examples that are “culturally sensitive” because the information is more relevant to students (p. 4).

Conclusion

The benefits of CRP are multifold.  Along with inclusive teaching practices and content, students’ engagement levels improve—especially those from non-dominant cultures (Liu et al., 2024).  Improved socialization and empathy follows CRP as students understand their fellow students more deeply and communities of learning develop. Likewise, students’s academic performance improves as students have equality of opportunity in learning (O’Leary et al., 2020).  Therefore, instructors must make the effort to overcome any personal biases about other cultures so they can aid students in becoming more culturally aware and sensitive.

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References

Durgungöz, A., & Durgungöz, F. C. (2021). “We are much closer here”: Exploring the use of WhatsApp as a learning environment in a secondary school mathematics class. Learning Environments Research, 25(2), 423–444. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-021-09371-0

Franco, M. P., Bottiani, J. H., & Bradshaw, C. P. (2023). Assessing teachers’ culturally responsive classroom practice in PK–12 schools: A systematic review of teacher-, student-, and observer-report measures. Review of Educational Research, 94(5), 743–798. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543231208720

Jaiswal, A., Smith, R. J., Diatta-Holgate, H., Morris, P. V., & Acheson, K. (2024). Comparing students’ multicultural awareness development in online vs. face-to-face diversity courses before, during, and after COVID-19. Trends in Higher Education, 3(4), 885-902. https://doi.org/10.3390/higheredu3040051.

Liu, W., Jamaludin, K. A., & Hamzah, M. I. (2024). Systematic review of culturally responsive teaching and implications for Technical Communication Education. Multidisciplinary Reviews, 8(4), 2025117. https://doi.org/10.31893/multirev.2025117

Okantey, B., Murgor, J. C., Wong, F. Y., Millender, E. F., & Xavier Hall, C. D. (2024). How U.S. social work students are prepared to work with culturally diverse individuals: A scoping review of constructs and interventions. Social Work Education, 44(6), 1535–1560. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2024.2409195    

O’Leary, E. S., Shapiro, C., Toma, S., Sayson, H. W., Levis-Fitzgerald, M., Johnson, T., & Sork, V. L. (2020). Creating inclusive classrooms by engaging stem faculty in culturally responsive teaching workshops. International Journal of STEM Education, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-020-00230-7 

Pang, H. (2019). How can WeChat contribute to psychosocial benefits? Unpacking mechanisms underlying network size, social capital and life satisfaction among sojourners. [The psychosocial benefits of WeChat] Online Information Review, 43(7), 1362-1378. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-05-2018-0168

Thompson, L. (2025). Multiracial students collaborating in classroom [AI-generated Image]. Wix Image Studio.