but it is important to know, the Native American
teacher was quoted as saying in the book.
Metacognition: Conscious
Learning, Conscious Teaching
Cultures of learning or learning approaches are,
more often than not, imbibed unconsciously
through interaction at home, neighborhood,
society, school and other environments. However,
recognizing cultural variations needs conscious
understanding. Dr. Li suggests, “You may need
metacognitive teaching. It is important for
children to discuss the cultural differences
– to make children consciously aware of
the different way of speaking about the
same issue. From research we know
that learning cultures is stored in the
brain in parallel – there is no overlap.
Different cultural situations activate the
respective cultural approaches as stored
in our brains.” This is not about changing
cultural behavior, but about realizing and
respecting differences, and applying culturally
appropriate responses when required.
For a bilingual school, such as Keystone Academy,
the significance of metacognitive learning and
teaching is integral to our mission. The school’s
blended curriculum drawing from Chinese,
American and international pedagogies demands
a carefully integrated approach.
“Keystone must encourage students to be aware
of the different cultural approaches of thinking
and speaking. And that will make them better
learners,” Dr. Li advises,
adding, “For Keystone to
be true to its mission, it is
important to set the right tone.
It is important to treat east and
west ways as equal yet different
to protect children’s self-esteem.
Each model can learn from the
other. Each model has its strengths
and weaknesses, but weaknesses
depend on each person’s point of view.
In order to merge it is not just about the
right way of teaching but children actually
learning cultural variations – and this is the
ultimate judge of whether or not a school
like Keystone is successful – and integrating
the two cultures. One cannot judge how well the
teachers are doing until you can judge how well
the students understand and learn and achieve
the Keystone mission. Intention is not the same
as impact.
In order for children to achieve this, they have
to feel pride for their own cultures despite the
social problems they witness. Setting the right
tone is extremely important. It is important
to make children aware of cultural variations.
I met a Chinese principal
from Shenzhen who was
at Brown University
for a training session
who had introduced
calligraphy for students
a few times a week in his
sch