INFUSING A DIVERSITY PERSPECTIVE INTO HUMAN-DEVELOPMENT COURSES

Students of human development must be well versed in issues of diversi ty if they are to appreciate the importance of developmental contextua lism, and comprehend policy and professional issues related to poverty and ethnicity. One difficulty in addressing diversity issues is the m inimal empirical foundation, a fact that was confirmed in Study 1 by c ontent analyses of research on child and adolescent development. More problematic, sampling patterns reinforce a deficit perspective on low- income minority adolescents. Study 2 describes evaluation findings fro m a curriculum enhancement project, in which multicultural content was infused into a sequence of human development courses. Significant cha nges in attitudes toward poverty and racial minorities were observed i n targeted courses, relative to comparison groups. Evidence is present ed that this curriculum project decreased ethnocentrism and increased critical thinking skills and awareness of poverty as a developmental r isk factor. Implications for pedagogy, research, and the culture of hi gher education are discussed.