Constructing cultural relevance in science: A case study of two elementary teachers

Patchen, Terri; Cox-Petersen, Anne M.

doi:10.1002/sce.20282

Cited by 55 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…As evident in the research above, scholars should continue to examine how teachers navigate through the challenges of low student achievement (in terms of standardized tests), limited resources, and pervasive deficit models. All of these factors are results of students being continuously marginalized not only in science, but school and society (Otsuki, 2009;Patchen & Cox-Petersen, 2008;Rivera Maulucci, 2010). This line of inquiry requires us to consider a wide range of voices from students who do not fit the typical profile of American teachers: White, female, and middle-class.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negotiating White science in a racially and ethnically diverse United States

Dunac

Demir

2016

Educational Review

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Scholars have empirically examined, rigorously developed, and analyzed various strategies to increase teachers' capacity to reach students of color. These instructional strategies and philosophies include the study of multicultural education, teaching for social justice, and theorizing the connection between school and home life. While these instructional strategies highlight the need for a more inclusive approach, they do not center race enough. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) is the pedagogical, content, and cultural knowledge a teacher exhibits (Ladson-Billings, 1995). CRP does not explicitly problematize race; yet the theory and praxis of CRP should include a critical analysis of race and racism. As an alternative framework that centers on race, researchers have begun to use Critical Race Theory (CRT) to explore aspects of race and racism in the teaching and learning realm. This qualitative case study examined how teachers make sense of their own racial selves in relation to teaching students from different racial backgrounds? (Yin, 2008). Data collection included semi-structured interviews as the primary source of data. Classroom observations and researcher memos served as secondary sources of data (Seidman, 2005;Hatch, 2002; Prior, 2003). According to critical race theorists, narratives are essential when gathering vital sources of information, in that they make the social realities of people of color, as influenced by racism, observable to the world ). As such, CRT was used to identify whether there were any influences of the students' racial identities on the teachers' development and implementation of culturally responsive practices. The analysis revealed that: (1) teachers' explicit confrontation with/of "otherness" as White female teachers and their critical awareness of societal influences on students of color presented more opportunities to be race-conscious and directly address institutional racism; and (2) teachers' critical awareness of explicit and implicit power structures and how these relationships are embedded in a "hidden curriculum" influenced their beliefs and instructional practices. These findings communicate the significance of White female teachers understanding of issues specific to urban schools, and their efforts to find ways to remedy those issues to make learning meaningful, purposeful, and authentic for students of color.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negotiating White science in a racially and ethnically diverse United States

Dunac

Demir

2016

Educational Review

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“…The pedagogies which teachers may use to encourage students to find meaning in science and engage with it are well-known but perhaps still not widely used, for example, different methods based in social constructivism (Driver et al 1994). Patchen and Cox-Petersen (2008) discuss some links with this and a different approach called culturally relevant pedagogy where typical power relationships between teacher and students are re-thought and where links between home and school are reinforced. This approach has commonalities with social constructivism and a positive attitude towards and use of the home language to help teach difficult science concepts is seen by the authors as a method of increasing successful border crossing with otherwise marginalised students.…”

Section: Teachers and Teachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Valuing difference in students’ culture and experience in school science lessons

Banner

2016

Cult Stud of Sci Educ

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Susan Harper writes about how a cross-cultural learning community can be formed where people from different cultures are not simply assimilated into a school science community but are seen and heard. This makes learning reciprocal and meaningful for both recent refugees and the dominant population. Although maybe not refugees, students from poorer backgrounds in many countries are less likely to choose science at a post-compulsory level. This article discusses some of the potential barriers that are faced by many of these students, that prevent them from participating in school science. It suggests how people involved in school science might address these issues to allow a smoother cultural border crossing between the students' cultures and school science culture by reducing the significance of the crossing.Keywords Inclusion Á Cultural capital Á Identity Á Border crossing Á Relevance In her article Keystone characteristics that support cultural resilience in Karen refugee parents, Susan Harper demonstrates the importance of a cross-cultural learning community, that includes parents, children and schools, for effective and embodied science learning for the whole school and wider community. This leads to a climate of shared learning where Karen culture is not assimilated into the dominant culture of (school) science but is articulated and heard, making learning reciprocal, and therefore meaningful

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“…Students are given the opportunity to act as teachers and leaders, positioned to share authority of knowledge, (Morrison, Robbins, & Rose, 2008;Patchen & Cox-Petersen, 2008). The teacher is no longer the sole authority of knowledge, but also a learner in the classroom community (Freire, 2009;Sternberg, 2010).…”

Section: Addressing Traditionally Overlooked Students' Needsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Curriculum needs to be rigorous (Morrison, Robbins, & Rose, 2008), rich, and supportive of student work toward meaning and transferable understandings and skills (e.g. Ladson-Billings, 1992;Leiding, 2007;Patchen & Cox-Petersen, 2008). …”

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confidence: 99%

“…Both the handbook and the staff development protocol lay a foundation of overall best practices from which the more specialized needs of traditionally overlooked students can be met. & Jarvin, 2001;Sternberg, Torff, & Grigorenko, 1998;Sternberg & Zhang, 2005), culturally relevant content and pedagogy (Banks, 2006;Delpit, 2006;Matczynski, Rogus, Lasley, & Joseph, 2000), promoting student self-efficacy and sense of empowerment by positioning them as co-contributors in the class learning (Freire, 2009;Morrison, Robbins, & Rose, 2008;Patchen & Cox-Petersen, 2008), and helping students recognize and work toward social change (e.g. Banks, 2006;Benson, 2003;Ladson-Billings, 1992;Martinez, 2009;Morrison, Robbins, & Rose, 2008;Swartz, 2009).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Effective Educational Practice: A Crucial First Step in Addressing the Needs of Traditionally Overlooked Students

Dimeo¹

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These students regularly encounter challenges that reflect a poor educational fit and their key needs are often overlooked in traditional school settings. These challenges include background factors such as poverty (Arnold & Doctoroff, 2003; Case, Fertigl, & Paxson, 2006;Rouse & Fantuzzo, 2009) and cultural differences (Bourdieu, 2008;Delpit, 2006;Garcia & Guerra, 2004;Jaeger, 2011;Lareau, 2003;Morrison, Robbins, & Rose, 2008;Rothstein-Fisch & Greenfield, 2000;Sternberg, 2004Sternberg, & 2007, as well as greater systemic inequalities such as funding (Biddle & Berliner, 2002;Condron & Roscigno, 2003), inequitable schooling experiences (Fram, Miller-Cribbs, & Van Horn, 2007;Giroux & Schmidt, 2004;Kozol, 1991), low teacher perspectives and expectations (Armstrong, 2010;Delpit, 2006;Garcia & Guerra, 2004), and low-quality curriculum (Baker, 2005;Freire, 2009;Garcia & Guerra, 2004) that lacks cultural relevance & responsiveness (Banks, 2006;.Despite these challenges, classrooms can support equity in access to excellence in education for traditionally overlooked students by (1) holding high expectations of all students while simultaneously providing high levels of support (e.g. Delpit, 2006;Howard, 2001;Ladson-Billings, 1992;Morrison, Robbins, & Rose, 2008;Swartz, 2009), (2) affirming and capitalizing on student culture and strengths, and (3) developing student efficacy and sense of empowerment (e.g. Banks, 2006;Benson, 2003;Ladson-Billings, 1992;Martinez, 2009;Matczynski, Rogus, Lasley, & Joseph, 2000;Morrison, Robbins, & Rose, 2008;Richards, Brown, & Forde, 2007;Rothstein-Fisch & Greenfield, 2000;Seidl, 2007;Sternberg, 2010;Sternberg, Gringorenko, & Bundy, 2001;Swartz, 2009).Such efforts require a foundation of best educational practices (Hattie, 2009), and Tomlinson's model of Differentiation (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011) is a highly useful frame for considering both best educational practice and the needs of traditionally overlooked students. This is because it is a model that is grounded in research-based approaches in all areas of classroom practice; rather than being a formula or collection of strategies, it is an approach to thinking about teaching and learning where teachers "proactively modify curricula, teaching methods, resources, learning activities, and student products to address the diverse needs of individual students and small groups of students to maximize the learning opportunity for each student in a classroom" (Tomlinson, Brighton, Hertberg, Callahan, Moon, Brimijoin, Conover, & Reynolds, 2003, p 121).The school site I partnered with for this capstone project had a significant population of traditionally overlooked students (i.e. 40% or more of students were considered to be from backgrounds of poverty) and desired support in addressing the needs of both this group of students as well for all students. This capstone project was conducted with a practical action research design overall and an ethnographic approach to data collection and analysis. After spending significant time observing teachers,...

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Constructing cultural relevance in science: A case study of two elementary teachers

Cited by 55 publications

References 45 publications

Negotiating White science in a racially and ethnically diverse United States

Negotiating White science in a racially and ethnically diverse United States

Valuing difference in students’ culture and experience in school science lessons

Effective Educational Practice: A Crucial First Step in Addressing the Needs of Traditionally Overlooked Students

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