Preservice Teachers Construct a View on Multicultural Education: Using Banks' Levels of Integration of Ethnic Content to Measure Change

Abstract This study examines the use of concept maps to assess learners' prior knowledge, and changes in their knowledge, as a result of fifteen hours of classroom instruction in multicultural education during the students' enrollment in an undergraduate teacher preparation program. Bank's Levels of Integration of Ethnic Content were used to measure change. Sample concept maps are analyzed. The findings of this study are not surprising yet they communicate strong implications for preservice teachers, teacher education, and K-12 schools. Our students came to us with prior knowledge and the change in that knowledge was conspicuous. It was significant that Banks' Levels of Integration of Ethnic Content, which were used as a framework in the instruction of the course, can serve to measure change in learning in students of multicultural education.