Suppose You Identify Some Prejudice in Your Classroom

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The Answer is Answers may vary but should include mention of the Robbers Cave experiment in Oklahoma and the jigsaw problem.
ROBBERS CAVE STUDY.We can find some clues in a study that Muzafer Sherif and his colleagues conducted in Robbers Cave,Oklahoma (so named because robbers once used the caves there to hide from law enforcement authorities).Sherif split 22 well-adjusted grade 5 students into two groups,the Eagles and the Rattlers,and sent them packing to summer camp.After giving the boys within each group the chance to form strong bonds,Sherif introduced the groups to each other and engaged them in a four-day sports and games tournament.When he did,pandemonium ensued.The Eagles and Rattlers displayed intense animosity toward one another,eventually manifesting in name-calling,food throwing,and fistfights.
Sherif next wanted to find out whether he could "cure" the prejudice he'd helped to create.His treatment was simple: Engage the groups in activities that required them to co-operate to achieve an overarching goal.For example,he arranged a series of mishaps,such as a breakdown of a truck carrying food supplies,that forced the Eagles and Rattlers to work together.Sure enough,such co-operation toward a shared goal produced a dramatic decrease in hostility between the groups (Sherif et al. ,1961).The Robbers Cave study imparts a valuable lesson: One means of reducing prejudice is to encourage people to work toward a shared higher purpose.By doing so,they can feel that they're no longer members of completely separate groups,but part of a larger and more inclusive group: "We're all in this together" (Fiske,2000).
JIGSAW CLASSROOMS.Elliott Aronson (Aronson et al. ,1978)incorporated the lessons of the Robbers Cave study into his educational work on jigsaw classrooms,in which teachers assign children separate tasks that need to be fitted together to complete a project.A teacher might give each student in a class a different piece of history to investigate regarding the perspective of each province on bilingualism.One might present on Alberta's perspective,the other on Quebec's or New Brunswick's,still another on the territories',and so on.The students then co-operate to assemble the pieces into an integrated lesson.Numerous studies reveal that jigsaw classrooms result in significant decreases in racial prejudice (Aronson,2004;Slavin & Cooper,1999).

Suppose You Identify Some Prejudice in Your Classroom

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