er to address this current gap in curricular development, this research project will be implemented to develop a children's multicultural literature-based folk art service learning curriculum. Essentially, this curriculum will challenge students to develop their academic skills and exercise their creativity by integrating multicultural literature with folk art in a service learning project.
In spite of the challenges in identifying the most appropriate multicultural literature, educators need to expose students to multicultural literature for several reasons. First of all, students are understandably attracted to multicultural literature that depicts characters who share their racial and cultural characteristics and stories that reflect their cultural experiences. For middle school students who are in the midst of developing their identities, their visibility in books serve as an affirmation of their existence and roles in society (Aoki, 1992; Austin, n. d.; Slapin & Seale, 1992).
Second, multicultural literature provides students with the opportunity to learn about different races, ethnicities and cultures. Just as importantly, it can serve an invaluable function of overcoming divisions between people from diverse racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds and forging a community. By reading these stories, students are asked to enter the lives of others, learn about their attitudes and beliefs. Through this process, students are able to transcend cultural stereotypes to see others as complex human beings who display not only differences, but also similarities to them (Aoki, Austin, n. d.; Banfield, 1998; Barrera et al., 1992,; Pescolido et al.; Rochman, 1993; Slapin & Seale, 1992; Yokota, 1993).
In fact, multicultural literature is highly effective in illuminating the similarities that link people from different cultural backgrounds together. According to Hillard (1995), one of the most effective ways for inculcating to...