Cultivating Cultural and Global Competence Through Collaboration With Diverse Groups of People

Abstract

Can cultural and global competence be cultivated through experiential collaborations with diverse groups of people? There has been a great deal of attention placed on the importance of developing students' cultural competence; however, primary grade teachers often lack the resources and training necessary for thoroughly investigating diversity with young children. To build cultural competence, it is imperative to create meaningful opportunities in which students collaborate on common goals so that children can have positive experiences with people of different cultures. This chapter will explore a research-based method being used effectively in classrooms in the United States, Mexico, and Ecuador to develop students' cultural and global competence through project-based experiences that meet existing curricular needs. In addition to the methodology used to engage students in cross-cultural project-based collaborations, this chapter also includes practical strategies for the evaluation of participants' cultural competence as well as qualitative data that supports the findings.