Science education in urban settings: Seeking new ways of praxis through critical ethnography

Abstract

The challenges faced in urban science education are deeply rooted in the ongoing struggle for racial, class and gender equity. Part of this struggle is tied to huge differences in class and involves making more equitable the distribution of resources. Another part of this struggle is tied to the rich diversity of children who attend urban schools and involves generating new ways of understanding, valuing, and genuinely incorporating into school‐based practices the culture, language, beliefs, and experiences that these children bring to school. Thus, this article argues that to address these two challenges—and indeed to achieve a more just science education for all urban students— explicitly political research methodologies must be considered and incorporated into urban education. One potential route for this is critical ethnography, for this kind of methodology emerges collaboratively from the lives of the researcher and the researched and is centrally about praxis and a political commitment to the struggle for liberation and in defense of human rights. In making this argument, I have drawn from stories from my own research with homeless children. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 899–917, 2001

Tiedeopetuksen muuttuvat tavoitteet

“…Viimeaikaisessa keskustelussa on kuitenkin myös perään-kuulutettu oppilaiden ja opettajan osallisuutta sen määrittämisessä, mikä oikeastaan on autenttista. Autenttisuuden on nähty tulevan esiin kanonisen tieteen, opettajien ja oppilaiden vuorovaikutuksessa (Rahm, Miller, Hartley, & Moore, 2003) tai osallistamalla oppilaat tiedonhankintaprosessin kaikkiin vaiheisiin niin, että he voivat ainakin jossain määrin tuntea omistajuutta oppimastaan tieteestä (Barton, 2001; Rivera Maulucci, Brown, Grey, & Sullivan, 2014). Buxton (2006) analysoi eri tapoja, joilla termi autenttisuus on mää-ritelty tiedeopetuksessa ja -oppimisessa.…”

“…Ensin mainitun käsityksen mukaan oppiminen on autenttista vain, jos sen lähtökohtana ovat oppilaiden intressit ja tarpeet. On kuitenkin huomattava, että tutkimukset, jotka ovat ottaneet puhtaasti tämän lähtökohdan, on usein tehty informaalisen oppimisen ympäristöissä, esimerkiksi sosioekonomisten ongelmien takia erityistukea tarvitsevien lasten koulun ulkopuolisessa opetuksessa (Barton, 2001). Tä-män tyyppisissä konteksteissa on helppo hyväksyä, että oppilaan akuutit tarpeet ja intressit tulevat ennen oppiainelähtöisiä tavoitteita.…”

Learning to teach science in contemporary and equitable ways: The successes and struggles of first‐year science teachers

“…Joining with a growing number of science educators, we argue that such scholarship be used in teachers' presentation of the nature of science to all students (Cunningham & Helms, 1998;Mayberry, 1998;Middlecamp & Subramaniam, 1999;Rosser, 1997;Stanley & Brickhouse, 1994, 2001. Some feminist scholars, for example, describe science as embedded in social, political, and cultural contexts.…”

“…Following other teacher educators' lead (Grossman, 1990;Grossman et al, 2000;Trumbull, 1999), we decided to investigate the educational practices of our recent teacher education graduates so as to better provide current and future preservice students with the knowledge and strategies needed to teach science in exemplary ways. To foreground our commitment to a more equitable and socially just science education, we employed critical ethnographic methods (Anderson, 1989;Barton, 2001;Noblit, 1999;Pizarro, 1998;Trueba, 1999). Research questions examined how first-year science teachers, former students in a teacher education program that emphasized issues of equity and diversity, presented contemporary descriptions of the nature of science and implemented equitable instructional practices in their own high school science classrooms.…”

“…Teachers, other reformers underscore, also need to integrate equitable instructional strategies into their educational practices. They must provide opportunities for all students, particularly female students and students from underrepresented ethnic groups, to examine the contributions of diverse peoples to the scientific enterprise; explore connections across science, society, and everyday life; and learn to use science toward empancipatory and social justice ends (Aikenhead & Jegede, 1999;Atwater, 1996Atwater, , 2000Barton, 1998Barton, , 2000Hodson, 1999;Rodriguez, 1998;Stanley & Brickhouse, 1994, 2001. We recommend that science teacher educators and beginning science teachers examine contemporary descriptions of the nature of science and equitable instructional practices in relation to one another-that they fashion a science education for all from both of these calls for reform.…”