In multicultural classes, cooperative learning alone cannot provide quality teaching and consequently the desired results. The way it is implemented and the overall school context determine its usefulness and effectiveness. Collaborative learning should be supported by a multicultural education program, otherwise it would have little if any positive effect on the students achievement and attitudes towards learning science.
The multicultural education as a means to provide a quality teaching for a diverse group of students, was taken along with some other issues including topics like behavior, health and safety, special educational needs, child protection and environmental education as a whole-school issue that should involve the entire school community including teachers, support staff, principal and directors, pupils, parents and the wider community. There is no single member of the school community who is solely responsible for the above issue. Providing quality teaching can only be tackled in an integrated and inclusive manner. Therefore, a “Whole School Approach” (WSA) was developed to tackle this problem. The results of the present study wouldn’t be achieved if the school hadn’t adopted and implemented different strategies and techniques to reduce any negative effects of the heterogeneous structure.
Learning as a behavioral process is very complex and multifactorial. The interactions between the multiple factors governing learning in the WSA will remain to a certain extent ambiguous. Where one factor may have a positive effect, another one may have another effect; however, the cumulative effect of all these factors was tested. Because when these factors are joined together in one group they might act differently (in a different way from that if they were assayed singly) due to their interactions.