Funds+of+Knowledge

toc =Introduction= //"In the banking concept of education, knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing. " Paulo Freire, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed//

Traditional forms of education, according to Freire, assume that students do not know anything and that the job of the teacher is to fill the "piggy bank" of the students' minds with coins of knowledge--little uncontextualized factoids.

In contrast to "Banking Education," Funds of Knowledge suggests that students come to school with lots of knowledge and skills. Further, when we draw upon these funds of knowledge in the school, we engage students and we end up teaching in culturally-responsive ways.

=What are Funds of Knowledge?= Watch the videos on this page. Luis Moll, one of the founders of the concept of "Funds of Knowledge" explains the concept: media type="custom" key="23398970"

A teacher in South Los Angeles describes her use of Funds of Knowledge: media type="custom" key="23399014"

This article has information interspersed with multiple examples of funds of knowledge. Focus most on those examples and allow them to help you form the concept of Funds of Knowledge:

=Funds of Knowledge and Ethnography= Ethnography is a form of research where the researcher is a participant-observer in a culture/community and records qualitative information that can be analyzed systematically. As teachers have sought information on their students' families and communities, they have become ethnographers and they use what they gather in order to create bridges between students' home knowledge and their school knowledge.

The following article shares an example of the effect of bringing a student's funds of knowledge into the classroom. It also outlines an ethnographic process for gathering this kind of information. Read the introductory material, the case study of Jacobo, and Appendix B4, which explains ethnography. The other important aspect of the appendix is that it describes how to interact with people in a positive way. This information can contribute to your being effective in working with the parents of your students.



=Learning Activity= Think of the kinds of activities a lot of students do out of school; also think about the kinds of jobs parents might have, realizing that parents typically share a lot about their jobs at home. Choose something you have thought about. How could you use a student's knowledge in this area as a bridge to their learning in the classroom?