Educational Psychology—Limitations and Possibilities

146 The Praeger Handbook of Education and Psychology
Bridging the gap between theory and practice and assisting educators in teaching diverse learners
involve comprehending how to embrace the theoretical tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy
based on several propositions: academic achievement, cultural competence, and sociopolitical
consciousness. While most pre-service teachers may be thinking of assessing the academic
achievement of their students, they typically do not give equal thought about which cultural
context their students’ learning might be attained. While most pre-service teachers may be able
to categorize different cultures of their students, they do not typically and/or traditionally think
of whether they themselves are competent in the nuances of various cultures to make relevant
connections with their students. While most pre-service teachers may think about whether they
will be assigned to a school of poverty or affluence, they do not usually think about how these
socioeconomic factors specifically influence their students’ ability to learn, or how the bias of the
educational institution favors children from mainstream America. The theory of culturally relevant
pedagogy addresses all these issues, and Ladson-Billings, by developing this theory, gives
us a method of practice that transcends the traditional approach of teaching children. Successful
learners are recipients in a culturally relevant learning environment, and are not quantified by
culturally irrelevant standardized scores.
Culture is dynamic, and cannot be categorized neatly into formal operational stages such as
Jean Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development. Children are not static, nor do they necessarily
fit into predesigned educational boundaries. Therefore, they need instructional practices that will
allow and acknowledge their individual growth, and the array of components in their lives that influence
or contribute to that growth, such as primary language/dialect, race, culture, ethnicity, and
child-rearing practices. Postformal thinking pursues those influences as well as integrates other
forms of knowing with caring, perceiving, reasoning/thinking, feeling, dialectical discourse, and
transcendence. Ladson-Billings’ theory of culturally relevant pedagogy aligns with the realm of
postformal thinking because it approaches teaching as a dynamic process. Embracing children in
their cultural context, involving them actively in their own learning process, providing meaningful
learning experiences, and introducing them to community issues to help them become aware
of their own power of agency—the ability to write their own script and create changes—are
integral parts of postformal thinking. Unlike the stages of operations inherent in formal thinking,
postformal thinking embraces forms or ways to elicit changes—changes that are necessary to
keep abreast of the multiculturalism that is prevalent all around us. Furthermore, this cultural
sensitivity assists each of us in developing the critical thinking skills that are necessary to create
a difference.
To better understand postformal thought, a child’s set of nesting cups might be an appropriate
metaphor. When the child pulls out the nesting cups, there are several sizes of cups stacked within
each other until they all fit together in harmony. If any one of the cups is placed out of order, or it
is not understood how relevant that single or individual cup is to the whole piece (or total group),
the cups cannot be properly arranged to complete the nesting order or the continuity of the nesting
pattern. A child is part of a family, a community, a society, and ultimately a world. However,
the child begins with the family unit and all the different components that make that family
unique. Just like the nesting cups and all their parts needed to accomplish the whole product,
families join together to create a community, a society, a country and intermingle together to
create a world. Postformal consciousness recognizes that the influences upon each child affect
their development within the context of their unique or specific cultural identity. In concert
with culturally relevant pedagogy, the individual teacher and the individual child collaborate to
construct a healthy, successful, nurturing learning environment that allows children from diverse
backgrounds to thrive. If any part of that child’s world is dismissed, the child will not be complete,
just like the imagery of incomplete nesting cups implied. There will be part of that child absent