Teaching to Transform: (W)holistic Science Pedagogy

Teaching science to transgress: Portraits of feminist praxis

“…This repositioning happens within a supportive and loving classroom community-a counterspace in school science. Patterson and Gray (2019) have pointed to the need for teachers to engage students in "dialogic process(es) of awarenessraising, community-building, and healing" in science classrooms to overcome the harm of deficit-oriented narratives and structural exclusion from science learning opportunities (p. 331). As Wade-Jaimes et al (2021) advise, counterspaces, such as those that Salina and Marelis create with students, are rare in science classrooms, but yet "must begin to penetrate the walls of formal science learning spaces" (p. 21).…”

“…We discuss how feminist praxis also encompasses the ways that Salina and Marelis work within rigid institutional contexts to effect systemic change. There is much to learn from portraits of practicing teachers whose personal and professional knowledge is underrepresented in education scholarship (Madkins & McKinney de Royston, 2019;Patterson & Gray, 2019;Quigley et al, 2015). We argue that the portraits of these two teachers, how they attend to the intersectional dimensions of race, class, and gender that their Black and Latinx students experience, can contribute to a more robust theory and pedagogy of teaching science for social justice for all students.…”

“…She also draws from, and shares with students, her own deeply traumatic experiences as a way of simultaneously coping with the emotional challenges of the work she does while supporting students through traumatic circumstances and situations. She has led professional learning experiences for teachers related to trauma-informed approaches to education (e.g., a holistic approach that is based on critical hope and healing, and one that centers physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing in working through the trauma associated with structural oppression such as gender and racial violence and poverty (Patterson & Gray, 2019; see also section on Emotional Empowerment: Tolbert et al, 2019). She feels strongly that students first and foremost need a well-developed positive sense of self and community in order to be academically successful and politically engaged, and teachers need to understand the relationships between trauma and youth development-particularly teachers working with Indigenous, Black, and/or Latinx youth in economically oppressed communities.…”

Sustaining Disciplinary Literacy in Science: A Transformative, Just Model for Teaching the Language of Science

“…Thus, science teachers need to attend to emotions as a means of ensuring that the learning environment remains additive for culturally and linguistically diverse students. WSP promotes an approach to teaching science that is personally relevant and useful for students while emphasizing the need for teachers to develop practices of deep self‐analysis and attention to students’ wellness (Patterson & Gray, 2019). This approach to science teaching can provide teachers with the opportunity to attend to the role of emotions, thus the ability to notice emotion and teach disciplinary language in culturally sustaining ways.…”

“…In science education, I suggest WSP as a pedagogical approach that attends to the emotional well-being of students while teaching a science curriculum that is transformative, just, and in line with the current science standards (e.g., New Generation Science Standards). WSP requires teachers to make five commitments toward a transformative and just science curriculum (Patterson & Gray, 2019). For a detailed explanation of each tenet, see Table 1.…”