Funds of Knowledge for Teaching Project

This project, involving collaborative activity between educational anthropologists and elementary school teachers, has three major components for the teachers: (1) collection of information about funds of knowledge in Mexican American, African American and Native American households in Tucson, Arizona; (2) meeting regularly in after-school study groups; and (3) development of classroom applications from the information gathered (González, 1995; González, Moll, Tenery, Rivera, Rendon, Gonzáles, & Amanti, 1995).

Each teacher usually studies households of three students in that year's class using the project's interview protocols and observation guidelines with the goal of learning about each household's funds of knowledge. In biweekly study groups, teachers share their information and experiences. These groups also support for the teachers in developing and using classroom applications of what they have learned.

González (1995) reported that students responded enthusiastically to units based on household funds of knowledge, that teachers judged students' learning to be better in these units than in previous classes, that parents have increased their involvement in the schools, and that teachers have developed complex understandings of the cultural lives of their students and their students' families. Teacher researchers' reports (e.g., Amanti, 1995; Craig, 1995; Floyd-Tenery, 1995; Hensley, 1995; Gittings, 1995; González, Moll, Floyd-Tenery, Rivera, Rendon, Gonzales, & Amanti, 1993; González, Moll, Tenery, Rivera, Rendon, Gonzales, & Amanti, 1995; Moll, Amanti, Neff, & González, 1992) of their experiences in the project discuss successes in their particular classrooms.

Relevant CIP Cultural Question

3.3.2 Home Culture & Curriculum