Social constructivism: Infusion into the multicultural science education research agenda

Abstract

This article focuses on (a) theoretical underpinnings of social constructivism and multicultural education and (b)

Community-Based Inquiry in Allied Health Biochemistry Promotes Equity by Improving Critical Thinking for Women and Showing Promise for Increasing Content Gains for Ethnic Minority Students

“…In addition, CBI's community focus and emphasis on social knowledge construction may allow women and ethnic minority students to better identify with the scientific enterprise and view themselves as active scientists. 50,51 These results also confirm the academic benefits of small-group, collaborative learning techniques for ethnic minority students observed previously in chemistry 52 and mathematics courses. 53 Collectively, results from this study indicate that CBI pedagogy shows promise for furthering America's goals of promoting national scientific literacy and both diversifying and expanding the STEM academic pipeline.…”

“…CBI may provide women and ethnic minority students with educational context and support that is not available in a traditional, direct information-delivery course. In addition, CBI’s community focus and emphasis on social knowledge construction may allow women and ethnic minority students to better identify with the scientific enterprise and view themselves as active scientists. , These results also confirm the academic benefits of small-group, collaborative learning techniques for ethnic minority students observed previously in chemistry and mathematics courses …”

The Potency of Social Constructivism on Classroom Productivity in Universities

“…This paradigm shift is based on the idea that people construct knowledge from those experiences and their interactions with others. Findings also confirm that SC is effective in the classroom as it helps students understand better what they are studying and how they can apply those concepts outside of the classroom (Atwater, 1996;. This also corroborates the argument of Kalpana (2014) that SC provides an opportunity for learners to be actively involved in learning instead of being passive receivers of information.…”

Changing Lanes: Relational Dispositions That Fuel Community Science Learning

“…In the spring of 2016, he reported that his confidence in his ability to do science was limited, although he was not very concerned because he did not see science as an integral part of his job, his role in our partnership, or his needed skill set more generally. This perspective, which distances science from everyday matters, resulting in limited confidence in science, mirrors commonly held views of science, particularly among minoritized learners (Atwater, 1996; Bang & Marin, 2015; Lee, 2003) and suggests that he initially had a distanced disposition toward science: The greatest challenge would probably be my own lack of confidence in those areas of science. .…”