Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly transformed the world, coming at a time of demographic change and social upheaval. These changes significantly affected educational practices, increasing the demand for technology integration more than ever. Additionally, migration waves have created schools and classes with cultural and linguistic diversity. Equal participation of all students necessitates adopting multicultural education that embraces appropriate social learning environments. This research focuses on blended learning (BL) as a teaching method that integrates technology with students of diverse cultural backgrounds in a classroom. BL combines face-to-face teaching with online activities. It has gained ground in the educational field due to its dynamism, combining tried-and-tested traditional methods with innovative approaches. Although it offers advantages such as flexibility and autonomy in learning, challenges like the need for self-regulation and digital proficiency are also highlighted. Culturally Responsive Education (CRE), on the other hand, focuses on integrating cultural diversity into teaching practices. It centers on all those children 'bring with them' into the classroom, not on the 'deficit' and what they cannot do. This approach encourages equal participation of students from various cultural backgrounds, increasing academic performance and empowerment of all students, particularly those from historically marginalized groups. However, there is a need for more extensive training of educators in CRE practices and for them to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to utilize and integrate the cultural capital of their students.

The present research studies the learning environment during the implementation of BL in fourth-grade students (aged 9-10 years) in a public urban school in Cyprus, examining how this environment responded to the needs of students with cultural and linguistic differences.

The existence of a research gap in investigating the impact of BL within the context of learning environments in Cypriot primary education underscores the significance and necessity of this research. The findings of the study have both practical and theoretical importance. Practically, they provide guidelines for implementing BL in elementary schools, especially in classes characterized by cultural and linguistic diversity. Theoretically, the research seeks to explore the challenges and outcomes of BL, contributing to the clarification of research gaps and understanding BL's response to the needs of all students, including those with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

The research spanned three academic years and included a quantitative analysis of educational performance and a qualitative study based on the educator's reflective comments and artifacts from digital tools. Although the initial adoption of BL created disorganization, it ultimately highlighted the method's potential, offering a flexible and supportive learning environment for students from marginalized groups. The researcher observed that the changes in the learning environment affected learning based on the opportunities provided for interaction, for creating a sense of collectivity, and for personal development and improvement.

Keywords:

Blended learning, Covid-19, culturally responsive teaching.