Education professor presents research on Latino learning

The presentation was part of the 'Diversity in Action' series.

By Jimmy Hibsch

Published Sept. 17, 2010

College of Education associate professor Kathryn Chval spoke to 50 faculty members, future educators and other professionals Thursday at Memorial Union about the participation of Latino students in elementary mathematics classrooms.

Chval spoke as part of the first “Diversity in Action” seminar for the 2010-11 academic year.

"I have to say that when I moved to Missouri, I began to observe classrooms where there was one Latino,” Chval said. “This was dramatically different from the Chicago classrooms I worked in where 100 percent of the students were Latino. All of a sudden, I started observing all different kinds of dynamics.”

Chval told the audience many of the Latino students between kindergarten and eighth grade she observed did not participate in class. As a result, she conducted a study in which she found teachers willing to open their classrooms so their students could record their lessons using mounted video cameras on students’ hats or sunglasses.

A major focus of the videos involved elementary-age children working with their peers in groups.

“The idea is that if you just put kids in groups, they will learn,” Chval said. “Unfortunately, there is evidence to the contrary. Groups can be unproductive for students if they are not established effectively or purposefully."

The videos showed Latino students being withdrawn or neglected in small groups and class work.

"What we’re seeing is that young children don’t know how to interact with their peers, so we want to know how we can work with teachers to help their students work with anyone, no matter who they are,” Chval said.

Oftentimes, Chval said the teachers became extremely upset upon watching the videos, but it always inspired them to be more inclusive with all of their students.

“Ultimately we want each child to facilitate his or her own participation, and if he is shy, then how do we help him overcome that shyness so he feels comfortable presenting his work in front of his peers?" Chval said. “The videos show that we have a problem, but in the national literature, we do not hear about this problem in terms of the participation of students."

She said too often this lack of participation from specifically Latino students is the result of teachers’ lower expectations of the group.

“Teachers do not always have high expectations for Latinos specifically, and as a result, any teacher has the potential to lower the curriculum’s complexity for them," Chval said.

Rebecca McCathren, associate professor in the department of special education, said the presentation gave her a new outlook on how children support each others’ learning.

"People sometimes make assumptions about children's abilities based on things that don't affect children's abilities,” McCathren said. “Without support, other children may not be good supporters of others' learning."

Senior Sheryl Cameron attended the presentation for her Early Childhood Development class.

“I learned that I need to pay very close attention to my students and just take into consideration my views and where I position myself as well as far as making assumptions,” Cameron said.

As a Latino herself, Cameron said Chval’s lessons were familiar.

“I’m half Latino too, so this has brought me back to my memories,” Cameron said. “When I was younger, I did notice that teachers did think that I was slower just because I came from Panama and I had a Spanish background.”

Chval said her study is important for all future educators to consider.

"I have really changed what I think about children working in groups,” Chval said. “When the preservice teachers I teach at MU walk into my class assuming that groups are always helpful for student learning, I am able to demonstrate situations when that is not the case.”