The teacher education program at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas, is guided by the College of Education's belief statement: "The most important purpose of schooling is the development of integrated knowledges, skills, and values that enable the functioning of students as responsible and productive members of a democratic, multicultural, technological, and global society."

Sequential blocks of courses provide the organizational framework for the program. Field experiences serve to integrate course content within blocks, while portfolio development and presentation facilitate integration of experiences from block to block.

In its emphasis on human diversity, Block 1 constitutes a crucial foundation for subsequent experiences. During this three-course block, preservice students explore diversity in terms of human growth and development, exceptionalities and differences in human development, and education in a global multicultural society. Field placements in two public school and several community settings include structured ethnographic experiences.

One particular Block 1 course, Social and Multicultural Foundations of Education, facilitates preservice students' development of a predisposition toward diversity. In addition to the field experiences, students engage in collaborative projects called Ethnic/Cultural Group Collaboratives, in which they explore in depth the nature and histories of particular U.S. cultural groups. At the conclusion of the course, students complete individual Quality Learning Experience plans, which require attention to learners' profiles of multiple intelligences and learning modalities.

Assessments of attitudinal changes as a result of participation in the Social and Multicultural Foundations course have utilized both quantitative and qualitative measures. Pre- and post-administrations of the Preference for Social Diversity scale indicated substantial, statistically significant positive changes. In open-ended responses to field activities, preservice students indicated enhanced awareness of their own preconceptions, as well as deepened understanding of cultural diversity as it pertains to children in classrooms.