Banks' Levels of Integrating Multicultural Education into the Curriculum

James Banks provided four different levels of integrating multicultural education into the curriculum, which includes:
  1. Level 1 - the Contributions Approach - most commonly used approach. Entails adding discrete cultural elements into the mainstream curriculum, such as heroes and holidays. The curriculum remains unchanged.
  2. Level 2 - the Additive Approach - special units and topics of various groups are added to the curriculum, but the content of the curriculum stays the same.
  3. Level 3 - the Transformation Approach - the curriculum is changed from the Eurocentric nature (European influenced) to the perspective of various groups. Different frames of reference and content material from various groups are transformed into the curriculum. This helps the students to understand the development and complexity of American society.
  4. Level 4 - the Social Action - the curriculum includes all of the elements from prior levels but also encourages the students to make decisions and to act socially with the concepts, issues and problems that they have studied from the various groups.
Many instructors only reach level one. They feel that if they have a "food day" others will understand the culture. This is a start, but very basic. It will benefit your students to provide curriculum that addresses level four. It will take research and commitment to encourage students to promote social action.
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