Impacting Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies by Decreasing Bias Through Simulation Experiences

Simulated teaching environments have been used for more than two decades and are likely to continue to expand to meet the demands of teacher development programs. In this study, the self-reported changes in culturally-responsive teaching perceptions of ten classroom teachers serving more than six hundred students are reported. This paper includes first year findings from a program designed to use artificial-intelligence (AI) based algorithms to reduce implicit bias in teaching. Findings from this study include significant pre-post increases for self-efficacy related to culturally responsive teaching as well as instructional self-efficacy. These findings add credibility to the contention that a key innovation of using simulation programs for teacher professional development is that it provides teachers and teacher trainees many learning trials with simulated students, thereby increasing teacher confidence and competence, and which in turn will improve student learning. Findings set the stage for measuring the impact on student perceptions of learning and cultural engagement intended to support teachers in recognizing and ameliorating their own implicit biases.