Towards linguistically and culturally responsive curricula: the potential of reciprocal knowledge in STEM education

Abstract

From the perspective of host country education system and, in light of a normative view of academic development, school systems have too often viewed the academic profiles of newcomer students as deficient despite a curriculum in Ontario (Canada) that mandates culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy. In this project, we view the mobility of these students as an enrichment of the host school system through the lens of reciprocal knowledge. The online STEM resources created are based on an understanding of the students’ funds of knowledge from the curricula of the families’ home countries. The results show that these resources contribute to the inclusion of multilingual students by allowing their teachers to better understand them, helping parents to understand the educational system of the country in relation to their own. However, such an approach requires curriculum change to include these transcultural perspectives and to train teachers to open their classrooms to reciprocal knowledge.