Final answer:
Mrs. Harris is demonstrating multiculturalism through her group assignments that promote pluralism, with students from different cultural backgrounds working together while maintaining their cultural identities, thus aligning with the 'salad bowl' metaphor rather than assimilation.
Step-by-step explanation:
Mrs. Harris is demonstrating multiculturalism by structuring group assignments to require cooperation among students from different cultural backgrounds. In her classroom, she is purposefully creating a learning environment that values diversity and encourages students to work together while retaining their cultural identities, aligning with the concept of pluralism. This approach is characteristic of the 'salad bowl' metaphor, which implies that each distinct cultural group adds unique value to the whole without losing its identity - contrasting with assimilation, where a minority group would conform to the dominant culture's identity.
Intergroup relations such as assimilation, pluralism, and amalgamation all represent different ways that societies manage diversity. Assimilation involves a minority group losing its original cultural identity as it conforms to the dominant culture, whereas pluralism allows each group to maintain its cultural identity. By encouraging cooperative learning among diverse students, Mrs. Harris is actively promoting pluralism within her classroom, rejecting the notion of assimilation and embracing the rich diversity that each student brings to the learning environment.