Critical physics agency: further unraveling the intersections of subject matter knowledge, learning, and taking action

Basu, Sreyashi Jhumki; Barton, Angela Calabrese

doi:10.1007/s11422-008-9155-4

Cited by 34 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 1 publication

(1 reference statement)

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“…The “third space” is a hybrid space created by each individual as he/she makes meaning of his/her world. Because learners bring nonacademic knowledge to formal learning environments, we acknowledge the role that these diverse ways of knowing play in science argumentation (Basu & Calabrese Barton, ; Moje et al, ). Wallace () proposed a theoretical framework that centers on studying language use around science within the constructs of authenticity, multiple discourses, and “third space.” Wallace's model presents three continua that inform argumentation research: expression (moving between vernacular to scientific language), voice (moving between private to public discourse), and meaning (finding meaning between two interlocutors).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Writing from different cultural contexts: How college students frame an environmental SSI through written arguments

2016

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The research objective of this study was to describe the frames that students from two culturally distinct institutions used in their argumentative essays on a locally relevant environmental socioscientific issue. Participants (n = 47) were recruited from biology courses designed for pre‐service elementary teachers at both a public university and a tribal community college separated by around 80 km. Students participated in iterative writing assignments, class discussion, and small group planning activities. Each student submitted three essays (in total around 140 essays), which were analyzed for the types of claims made, the types of evidence used to support claims, and patterns of argument framing. A framing typology from the science communication discipline was used. Both cohorts used frames around accountability and compromise, but tribal college students were more likely to draw on morality frames while university students drew on economic development frames. In addition, the tribal students were less likely (58% of essays) to use scientific evidence to support their claims than the university students (96% of essays). We conclude that while frames lend them themselves to using scientific evidence, students from culturally marginalized backgrounds have an opportunity to increase their sense of agency and communicate their argumentative positions on SSIs. We recommend that educators assign WTL activities that allow students to select their own frames but encourage students to integrate scientific evidence in their essays, while also recognizing that how we define science is likely culturally biased. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 54: 195–218, 2017

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Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Writing from different cultural contexts: How college students frame an environmental SSI through written arguments

2016

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“…Our definition of science agency draws from Turner's (2003) construct of critical mathematics agency, Basu's (2008) critical physics agency, and Basu and Calabrese Barton's critical science agency (2008). In the study conducted by Turner involving critical mathematics agency, she described how the construct of human agency might be applied to the content area of mathematics.…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extending science beyond the classroom door: Learning from students' experiences with the Choice, Control and Change (C3) curriculum

et al. 2012

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This article describes the experiences of seventh‐grade students living in high poverty areas of New York City who participated in the Choice, Control and Change (C3) science curriculum. Data were collected from eight case study students in the form of individual interviews, classroom observations, and student artifacts. Analysis of these data revealed that students were able to extend their C3 science understandings beyond the classroom door by developing and expressing science agency in the following ways: (1) critically analyze the conditions of their food environment, (2) purposefully make healthier choices, and (3) expand the food and activity options available to themselves and others. Through participation in the C3 curriculum, and the science content and practices addressed therein, students began to view their worlds with a more critical mindset and to devise ways to transform themselves and the conditions of their own and others' lives. Based on the findings, we propose taking a closer look at how we might create meaningful and relevant learning opportunities for students through connecting school science with issues of personal and social significance in students' lives outside of school. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 244–269, 2012

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“…It also involves the ability to create learning spaces in science that develop students' abilities to critically reflect on their lives and communities and take action to improve them (Basu and Calabrese Barton 2009). It requires, as well, the capacity to create productive learning environments with students, including negotiating with them classroom rules and expectations to establish a foundation of shared control and responsibility for learning (Tobin 2001).…”

Section: Preparing Science Teachers For Urban Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning to teach science in urban schools by becoming a researcher of one’s own beginning practice

Furman

Barton

Muir

2011

Cult Stud of Sci Educ

Self Cite

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An urgent goal for science teacher educators is to prepare teachers to teach science in meaningful ways to youth from nondominant backgrounds. This preparation is challenging, for it asks teachers to critically examine how their pedagogical practices might adaptively respond to students and to science. It asks, essentially, for new teachers to become researchers of their own beginning practice. This study explores the story of Ben as he coauthored a transformative action research project in an urban middle school as part of a teacher education program and, later, over his first year of teaching at that same school. We describe how Ben and his partner teacher created innovative spaces for science learning. This offered Ben an opportunity to make some of his deeply engrained pedagogical beliefs come alive within a context of distributed expertise, which provided for him a space of moderate risk where he could afford the chances of failure without undermining how he felt about his own capacity as a teacher. Our study highlights the importance of creating reform opportunities within the context of teacher education programs that may help beginner teachers construct positive images of teaching that they can hold on to in their future practice.Executive Summary (Spanish) Una demanda urgente para los formadores de maestros y profesores de ciencias es la de preparar docentes que puedan enseñar ciencia de modos significativos para los jóvenes de contextos no-dominantes, especialmente de escuelas

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Critical physics agency: further unraveling the intersections of subject matter knowledge, learning, and taking action

Abstract: In this rejoinder to Bryan Brown and John Reveles, we highlight the facts that (a) sociocultural theories of learning do not go far enough because they fail to address a number of issues and (b) we require concepts such as power and positionality to understand science learning.

Cited by 34 publications

References 1 publication

Writing from different cultural contexts: How college students frame an environmental SSI through written arguments

Writing from different cultural contexts: How college students frame an environmental SSI through written arguments

Extending science beyond the classroom door: Learning from students' experiences with the Choice, Control and Change (C3) curriculum

Learning to teach science in urban schools by becoming a researcher of one’s own beginning practice

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