Preparing global minded teachers for U.S. American classrooms through international cross-cultural field experiences

Long with the call for globalization of teacher education across the United States of America, there is a growing emphasis for developing curricula aimed at preparing global minded teachers capable of working with diverse student groups. Keeping this in mind, this article discusses how teacher education programs in the U.S. have introduced international cross-cultural field experiences for future teachers, in-service teachers, and teacher educators. The article begins with a brief review of existing literature on study abroad in teacher education, provides a description of an evolving model for a study abroad program to Honduras developed by two faculty members at Purdue University, and reports on findings from four research studies on the effects of international cross-cultural field experiences on preservice teachers who participated in the Honduras study abroad program. The article concludes by calling on universities around the world to globalize teacher education programs through collaborative study abroad programs.