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Anthropology and Education
The Anthropology and Education Program explores
the experiences of young learner communities through the prism of
culture. As young people from different cultural backgrounds are melded
together in public school systems, the complex process of learning
draws from many sources of knowledge both inside and outside the school
environment. BARA achieved national prominence as the pioneer of the
funds-of-knowledge approach which integrates these diverse sources
of learning.  Teachers
trained in ethnographic methods are able to create more effective
learning environments consistent with how young people learned at
home and elsewhere. The funds-of-knowledge approach has demonstrated
its unique ability to create strong links between parents, teachers
and students, as learning becomes based on community forms of knowledge.
As a further extension of this approach, BARA faculty have developed
a participatory learning methodology that empowers minority students
in the public school system to take an active role in defining their
learning environment. Fundamentally, BARA focuses on youth education
as a complex developmental process of which power, social justice,
and ethnicity are key factors determining success.
BARA has obtained funding for this approach
from a number of sources, including the Ann E. Casey Foundation,
the Kellogg Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Office of Research
and Improvement of the U.S. Department of Education, and NSF.
Current Projects:
©BARA - The Bureau of Applied Research
in Anthropology |
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