Towards a truer multicultural science education: how whiteness impacts science education

Le, Paul; Matias, Cheryl E.

doi:10.1007/s11422-017-9854-9

Cited by 52 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Understanding student identities and experiences allows us to recognize and problematize existing discourses that hinder student access to the science classroom community. One example of a prevailing discourse is deficit thinking, or the conception that some students are more likely to perform better than others based on a socially constructed identity, such as race or gender (McGee and Martin, 2011; Settlage, 2011; Le and Matias, 2018). Though many educators recognize and articulate how this can be dehumanizing to students, the unconscious enactment of institutionalized and organizational norms inadvertently reproduces some of this deficit thinking (Bourdieu and Passeron, 1990; Carlone and Johnson, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating Undergraduate Biology Students’ Science Identity Production

Doughty

Thompson

et al. 2019

LSE

Self Cite

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Identity production is a complex process in which a person determines who he or she is via internal dialogue and sociocultural participation. Understanding identity production is important in biology education, because students’ identities impact classroom experiences and their willingness to persist in the discipline. Thus, we suggest that educators foster spaces where students can engage in producing science identities that incorporate positive perceptions of who they are and what they have experienced. We used Holland’s theory of identity and Urrieta’s definitions of conceptual identity production (CIP) and procedural identity production (PIP) to explore the process of students’ science identity production. We interviewed 26 students from five sections of a general biology course for majors at one higher education institution. The interview protocol included items about students’ identities, influential experiences, perceptions of science, and perceptions of their classroom communities. From the interviews, we developed hierarchical coding schemes that focused on characterizing students’ CIP and PIP. Here, we describe how students’ socially constructed identities (race, gender, etc.) and their experiences may have impacted the production of their science identities. We found that authoring (i.e., making meaning of) experiences and recognition by others as a community member influenced students’ science identity production.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating Undergraduate Biology Students’ Science Identity Production

Doughty

Thompson

et al. 2019

LSE

Self Cite

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“…Neoliberalism is also deeply intertwined with the depoliticization of science and white supremacy (Cech, 2013; Cech and Sherick, 2015; Le and Matias, 2019; McGee, 2016). Depoliticization frames social and cultural topics, such as LGBTQIA+ rights or issues of social justice and equity, as tangential to scientific and engineering work (Cech, 2013; Cech and Sherick, 2015).…”

Section: Sensitizing Constructsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Queer science: Temporality and futurity for queer students in STEM

et al. 2021

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The sociopolitical landscape for queer people has changed dramatically in recent decades; however, progress has been both halting and uneven. While this is evident in many areas of professional and private life, this study focuses on the experiences of queer students in STEM learning environments in US colleges and universities. Specifically, we explore student expressions of temporality and futurity with regards to their STEM experiences and aspirations. Engagement with queer theory, especially queer formulations of time and space, alerted us to the importance of sociopolitical developments of the past several decades—particularly the rise and entrenchment of neoliberal politics in both academic STEM arenas and gay and queer politics. Engaging with queer temporality and spatiality, neoliberalism, and the homonormative turn, we found three interdependent themes: (1) the (re)negotiation of queer politics within academic disciplines linked to the neoliberal state; (2) the multiple bifurcations of self, time, and space required to simultaneously navigate queerness and STEM; and (3) the development of utopian projections of the future intended to reconcile queer identity, neoliberalism, and STEM. These findings point to a tension between queer identities and STEM fields arising not from the nature of the fields themselves but from science’s interconnectedness with a neoliberal economy. This tension not only structures participants’ current experiences in STEM learning spaces but also flavors the way they consider their futures as queer scientists.

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“…The biggest challenge in this approach to teacher education is that the aim is to influence teacher dispositions and not just behaviors, knowledge, or pedagogical skills. In relation to science education, Le and Matias (2019) refer to the difficulty of addressing K-12 science student diversity, noting that "the emotions of the mainly white female teachers when talking about race always shut down the learning and dialogue" (Le and Matias 2019, p. 21). I acknowledge that this can be a work that is very affectively triggering (for teacher educator and teacher candidate) but science teacher educators must persevere, no matter what their own identity might be or the local demographic profile of TCs or school students.…”

Section: Implications and Ways Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foregrounding Intersectionality in Considerations of Diversity: Confronting Discrimination in Science Teacher Education

Burke

2021

Res Sci Educ

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This paper contributes to a small but significant body of research addressing issues of prejudice in science education. It is written in the form of a critical incident analysis that uses the framework of intersectionality to examine deficit ideologies and biases inherent in science as a body of knowledge as well as science teacher education. If left unchecked, these prejudices can filter through into school science education, reinforcing the stereotypes of who can contribute to the field of science. The paper makes a call for science teacher educators to support teacher candidates as they move past an academic understanding of diversity in science education to examine their personal dispositions. Suggestions are made for approaches that can be adopted to facilitate the forms of deconstruction necessary for progress to be made in this area.

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Towards a truer multicultural science education: how whiteness impacts science education

Cited by 52 publications

References 52 publications

Investigating Undergraduate Biology Students’ Science Identity Production

Investigating Undergraduate Biology Students’ Science Identity Production

Queer science: Temporality and futurity for queer students in STEM

Foregrounding Intersectionality in Considerations of Diversity: Confronting Discrimination in Science Teacher Education

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