Between two cultures: an autoethnographic reflection on multicultural competence as a science educator

Abstract

Multicultural competence has gained attention in education as the diversity of students has increased. Thus, teachers ought to be expected to develop ways of understanding students’ cultural differences and to improve their ability to communicate with and be culturally empathic with students from different backgrounds. Using an autoethnographic approach, I reflect on my lived experiences based on the three aspects of multicultural competence (cultural knowledge, awareness, and skills) through the lens of multiracial feminist theory and Gloria Anzaldúa’s ideas in her Borderlands theory. I specifically discuss how my experiences as a female science educator were shaped in both South Korea and the USA to understand my cultural beliefs. This autoethnography points to the aspects of multicultural experiences that teachers can reflect on to understand both students’ realities and their own in science education.

Keywords:

• Science education
• multicultural competence
• science teachers
• autoethnography
• Borderlands theory

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

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Notes on contributors

Soo Won Shim

Soo Won Shim is a doctoral student in science education and is also pursuing a MS in biology education at Purdue University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of STEM education, multicultural education, and educational psychology.