Developing Intercultural Mindedness through an Experiential Learning Activity—A Case Study from Singapore
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Towards Intercultural Mindedness in Education
- Modesty from all those involved in comparing and complementing forms of intercultural education
- Realism (what agendas are hidden behind the “beautified” pictures that one projects of one’s own system/culture when it comes to diversity?)
- Myth hunting (what part of education is based on myths, commonsense and ideologies that need debunking?)
- Decentering (can I see myself through the other based on similarities but also differences?)
3. Racial Harmony in Singapore
4. Methodology
4.1. Data Collection
4.2. Data Analysis
4.3. Visual Data Supplementing the Results
5. Discussion of Findings
5.1. Intercultural Learning or Chasing the Myth?
5.2. Intercultural Learning as Harmony-Conflict and Sameness-Differences Binaries
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- “To avoid racial riots”
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- “So that there are no wars”
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- “Without Racial Harmony, Singapore would not be a safe place, as different religions would not understand each other and misunderstandings would happen often”
- –
- “Singapore without racial harmony may have racial riots”
- –
- “We must stand together”
- –
- “We can do better together”
- –
- “Keep our country together”
- –
- “Everyone is equal”
- –
- “We are all the same”
- –
- “We are one”
5.3. “Today There Are No Right or Wrong Answers”: Observed Learning Affordances for Intercultural Mindedness
6. Post-Trail Reflection to Illustrate Intercultural Learning
6.1. Many Races, Many Religions
6.2. Respect Instead of Judge
7. Discussion and Practical Implications
8. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Main Theme | Crossing Race and Cultural Boundaries | School-Related Activities Proposed by Students | Self-Other Relationship in Promoting Racial Harmony |
---|---|---|---|
Subtheme Example | Making friends: “I can make friends from other races.” | School role and responsibility: “Advise the school to have an activity on race and teach the children how to better understand and respect each other’s race and religion.” | Respect: “Respect each other’s race and religion and don’t judge.” |
Subtheme Example | Respect: “Respect other races and involve more friends from other races.” | Active participation: “Put up posters and advertisements.” | Awareness: “Raise cultural awareness.” |
Subtheme Example | Learning: “Learn each other’s cultures.” | Proposing activities for schools: “Celebrate events, conduct group discussions, promote history, value on diversity and stay united and make more friends from different races.” | Non-racist actions: “Do not make racist remarks.” |
Subtheme Example | Interactions: “I can encourage interaction between people of all races.” | Promotion of equality: “Treat everyone equally.” |
Unpacking the Current Terms Used (for Example): | Creating Safe Spaces: | Co-Constructing Intercultural Learning: |
---|---|---|
Respect, care, compassion, acceptance, tolerance, open-mindedness, sensitivity, teamwork, helpfulness, kindness, harmony, consideration, equality and any other terms proposed by the students | The terms discussed beyond the harmony framework reflecting students’ experiences. What agendas are hidden behind the “beautified” pictures that one projects of one’s own system/culture when it comes to diversity? [16]. | Whose values? How are these values decided? How are these values acted? [16] |
Race/ethnicity Religion Gender Socio-economic background (SES) | Maintaining modesty in dialogue from all those involved in comparing and complementing forms of intercultural education [16] | What do these terms mean to you? What determines your race/ethnicity and religion? How important are these to you? How do the intersections (race/religion/SES or any other identity markers) shape your privilege (if any)? |
Racism Stereotyping Bullying Discrimination | Negotiating dispositions: can I see myself through the other based on similarities but also differences? [2,6,16,43] Are they individual cases or systemic in nature? | Has it happened to me? How do I feel about it? Have I witnessed it happening? How do I best react to it? |
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Layne, H.; Teng, S.S. Developing Intercultural Mindedness through an Experiential Learning Activity—A Case Study from Singapore. Educ. Sci. 2022, 12, 212. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12030212
Layne H, Teng SS. Developing Intercultural Mindedness through an Experiential Learning Activity—A Case Study from Singapore. Education Sciences. 2022; 12(3):212. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12030212
Chicago/Turabian StyleLayne, Heidi, and Siao See Teng. 2022. "Developing Intercultural Mindedness through an Experiential Learning Activity—A Case Study from Singapore" Education Sciences 12, no. 3: 212. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12030212
APA StyleLayne, H., & Teng, S. S. (2022). Developing Intercultural Mindedness through an Experiential Learning Activity—A Case Study from Singapore. Education Sciences, 12(3), 212. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12030212