Invisible Differences: A Pedagogical Approach to Personalizing Diversity for Pre-service Teachers

This paper draws from 336 pre-service teachers’ multimedia family history projects. It examines the efficacy of a pedagogical approach designed to move pre-service teachers from spectators to participants in an increasingly diverse society. It details a theoretical foundation for using family histories to move apparently homogenous cohorts of teacher education students to personalize issues of diversity by examining their own differences. The Invisible Differences Project engages pre-service teachers in critical examination, reflective thinking, and dialogic interaction as they present multimedia family histories to their peers.