정보 통신 및 교통 기술의 발달과 시장 경제의 확장으로 세계화, 개방화가 진행되면서 국제결혼 이주자, 외국인 근로자, 북한 이탈 주민들의 비율이 지속적으로 증가함에 따라 우리 사회는 다인종 · 다문화 사회로 급속히 진전하고 있다. 다문화 가정의 증가는 자연히 학령기의 다문화 가정 자녀 수의 증가를 가져와 학교 구성원의 변화가 불가피해졌다. 이러한 교실 사회와 한국 사회의 현실에 맞는 다문화 교육은 필수적인 것이다. 그러나 현재 이루어지고 있는 다문화 교육의 실태를 살펴보면 다문화 교육의 정의와 목표, 대상 등에 대한 혼란으로 많은 학교와 기관에서 제각각 다르게 운영되고 있다. 이에 본 연구에서는 7차 개정 교과서에 새로 편성된 ‘사회 변화와 우리 생활’ 단원의 제재를 활용하여 전체 학생들을 대상으로 하는 사회과 다문화 수업을 설계하였다. 수업 내용과 활동의 구성은 학생들이 단원 학습을 마쳤을 때, 다양한 문화가 우리 사회에 존재하고 있음을 인식하여 문화의 차이를 이해하고 수용할 수 있는 태도와 가치를 지니도록 이루어져 있다. 따라서 본 연구는 초등학교 4학년 전체 학생들을 대상으로 다문화 수업을 설계하고 적용하여 다문화 인식의 변화, 다문화 이해의 정도를 확인하는데 목적이 있다.;The purpose of the study is to confirm students’ change of the attitude toward cultural diversity as well as the degree of multicultural understanding by designing and running multicultural education program for 4th graders in the elementary school. The specific research questions are as follows: 1. How is the multiculture lesson designed? 2. How is the multiculture lesson implemented? 3. What are the results of the multiculture lesson? 3-1. How does the multiculture lesson affect the openness? 3-2. How does the multiculture lesson affect the acceptance? 3-3. How does the multiculture lesson affect the respectfulness? To design the multiculture lesson for the study, themes were selected by analyzing multiculture-related units and topics in the current social studies curriculum. After the themes were chosen, a survey on multiculture lesson was conducted for teachers and students to find out specific teaching-learning methods. Learning objectives according to the topics were reset and detailed contents of the lesson were organized based on the result of the survey by way of specifying the objectives of the study. To evaluate the lesson design, a preliminary and an expost facto examination were carried out with the questionnaire on multicultural awareness developed by Myung Hee Kim(2009). The data were analyzed by SPSS 18.0 / WIN to compare the results of the survey and to figure out the degree of improvement. To identify the effectiveness of students’ changes in terms of the attitude toward cultural diversity, 14-period of multiculture lesson was put into practice to 30 4th graders after a preliminary survey on the understanding of multiculture. In the multiculture lesson, interesting teaching-learning methods were used to help the students realize the issue, such as flash animation, movieclips, and newsclips. In addition, the students were encouraged to voluntarily participate in group activities, projects, role-play and discussion. Personal products such as reportbook lets and worksheets were to figure out students’ changes of the attitude toward cultural diversity and the degree of multicultural understanding. The students were evaluated in the category of preliminary survey, expost facto survey, lesson products and participation to identify their changes of perception as well as the degree of understanding. The findings are as follows: First, the students’ attitude toward cultural diversity was improved through the multiculture lesson. The students, who had prejudice and stereotypes toward the minority in the society, showed greater attitude and way of thinking. Second, the degree of the change and the understanding of the multiculture was identified in the results of the qualitative research such as the students’ lesson products and diaries. The students changed their ethnocentric way of thinking so that they have greater acceptance and respectfulness toward other culture. Third, the students showed better understanding and attitude toward social studies class. The importance of multicultural education was reconfirmed through students’ higher expectations for the subject, which was considered boring and difficult before. It also proves that the various teaching-learning methods used in the lesson worked out well to keep the students’ motivation high. The implications of this study for multicultural education are as follows: First, more systematic multicultural education program for elementary school students should be developed, since the study indicates significant improvement of the attitude toward cultural diversity of the students through multiculture lesson. Second, multiculture and multicultural education should be properly defined to develop the curriculum. The ranges for defining multiculture are different from researchers to researchers, which causes confusion in setting the direction, goals and target grades of multicultural education. Third, various measurements for examining the effectiveness of multicultural education should be developed. A reliable measuring tool suitable for Korea is crucial to determine various range and attitude toward cultural diversity.