Creating contextually authentic science in a “low‐performing” urban elementary school

Abstract

This article reports on a 2½‐year collaborate project to reform the teaching and learning of science in the context of Mae Jemison Elementary, the lowest performing elementary school in the state of Louisiana. I outline a taxonomy of authentic science inquiry experiences and then use the resulting framework to focus on how project participants interpreted and enacted ideas about collaboration and authenticity. The resulting contextually authentic science inquiry model links the strengths of a canonically authentic model of science inquiry (grounded in the Western scientific canon) with the strengths of a youth‐centered model of authenticity (grounded in student‐generated inquiry), thus bringing together relevant content standards and topics with critical social relevance. I address the question of how such enactments may or may not promote doing science together and consider the implications of this model for urban science education. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 695–721, 2006

Vocational students’ meaning-making in school science – negotiating authenticity through multimodal mobile learning

“…It is however, a term which takes on a range of meaning in the research literature (Buxton, 2006). At the heart of the term lies the notion that there is some kind of resemblance between the learning experience and the world outside school.…”

Students’ Research-Informed Socio-scientific Activism: Re/Visions for a Sustainable Future

“…In support of such mandates, many researchers and developers have explored various approaches for helping teachers to enact the new curriculum learning expectations (Simonneaux and Simonneaux 2009;Zeidler 2003). Buxton (2006), for example, studied elementary school children who investigated various aspects of issues pertaining to the school property and, then, took action on some of them (e.g., 'naturalizing' some school property with a garden). Similarly, Roth (2009) reports on student participation in data collection and subsequent lobbying actions related to local citizens' difficulties with access to municipal water.…”

Promises and Challenges for the Use of Adapted Primary Literature in Science Curricula: Commentary

“…Although the term authenticity has been criticized for overuse in science education, or for promoting a singular, imperialist conception of the nature of science that negates the many ways in which learners can define their own authentic interactions with nature (Buxton 2006), it still holds at its core the desire for learners of science to develop an understanding of the practice of science as more than just the activities done in school. Grave misconceptions about science (e.g., as a collection of facts in a textbook, or the manipulation of materials without overarching theoretical constraints) are produced in school science environments that are authentic to no one (Chinn and Malhotra 2002;Edelson 1998;Lee and Songer 2003;Norris 1985).…”