A COMPARISON OF TEACHING METHODS BUILDING CULTURAL COMPETENCY INFORMED BY CONTACT THEORY

This study examines students' levels of cultural competency before and after taking three different semester-long courses dealing with diversity and cultural competence with each course representing a different teaching methodology. A new 20-item survey, designed for students across disciplines, was used to measure cultural competency among 226 students from the fall of2012 to the spring of2 015. Differences were examined between scores before and after taking each class, as well as differences between classes. There were significant improvements in all three groups, and a significant difference between two of the three classes in the improvement of scores.