Multicultural education and culturally responsive teaching in music education

Society has become increasingly multicultural, and schools are reflective of this cultural diversity. Multicultural education and culturally responsive teaching are pedagogical strategies needed to fully engage students of all cultures. This study studied two fourth grade elementary music education classes in a unit of American Indian music. One class received multicultural instruction and one class received a combination of multicultural instruction and culturally responsive teaching. The results of these two approaches were examined in terms of knowledge gained and changes in attitude. It was found that while both classes gained a large amount of knowledge, the class receiving culturally responsive teaching gained a considerable amount more. With regards to attitude, both classes began with a very positive attitude and remained largely the same throughout the study.