Betty Jones, Physical Education
- Through the sharing of family cultures, students consider a variety of definitions of culture and reflect upon the implications of their cultural experiences on their relationships, families, and work.
| Instructor Prep. Time | Student In-Class Time | Student Out-of-Class Time |
| Less than 15 minutes | 75 minutes | 1 hour |
- Definitions of culture
Step-by-Step Procedure:
1st Class Period
- Provide students a definition(s) of culture. The IUPUI "Society and Culture" Community of Practice proposed the following definition: Culture – the beliefs, values and norms; the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterize a group of people.
- Give students “expanded” examples of how to describe themselves in relation to their cultural experiences.
- Make sure to give them specific examples of “expanded” definitions of culture. For instance, use examples from previous classes such as a student whose family rode Harley Davidson motorcycles and was involved in their local Harley group, a student who grew up in the South, a student who grew up in Japan, a student who grew up in a military family and moved around many times, a student who is an only child, a student with a sibling who has a severe disability, a student who grew up in a very small town, a student who has a gay parent, a student who grew up in the inner city.
- Assign students a one-page paper in which they describe their family’s culture.
2nd Class Period
- Either divide the class into groups of 5 or 6, or have the entire class sit in a circle and share a summary of their culture and family descriptions with the class.
- After sharing their summaries, have students reflect on what they have learned in their discussions. See attached worksheet.
- After students have time to reflect, ask them to share some of their thoughts and feelings from their reflections.
- From this learning activity, I will _____________________. (Ask them to determine some type of action they will take from the information they have learned from this activity.)
Suggestions for Use:
- It is helpful to show students an example, but try not to limit their view of culture by giving them examples. The maximum number of students recommended to use this activity with is 40. It is best to facilitate the sharing of summaries with the entire class, so everyone can learn from each other.
