ABSTRACT:Over the last decade, significant efforts have been made to bring change to science classrooms. Educational researchers (Anderson, R. D., & Helms, J. V. (2001). Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38(1), 3 -16.) have pointed to the need to examine reform efforts systemically to understand the pathways and impediments to successful reform. This study provides a critical analysis of the implementation of an innovative science curriculum at a middle school site. In particular, the author explores the issues that surround teacher learning of new practices including the structures, policies, and practices that were in place within the reform context that supported or impeded teacher learning. Parallels are drawn between student and teacher learning and the importance of autonomy and decision-making structures for both populations of learners. Findings presented include (1) how staff development with constructivist underpinnings facilitated teacher learning; (2) how regular and frequent opportunities for interactions with colleagues and outside support personnel contributed to teacher learning; (3) how the decline of such interactive forums and the continuation of old decision-making structures restricted the development of teacher knowledge, expertise, and a common vision of the science program; and (4) how the process of field-testing at this site limited the incorporation of teachers' prior knowledge and impacted teacher acquisition of new knowledge and skills.

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ABSTRACT:Researchers continue to report the underrepresentation of females in the science professions (AAUW, 1992; NSF, 1999;Vetter, 1992). Investigators have illuminated many factors that contribute to the insider status in the science community of some groups and the peripheral/outsider status of women and girls (Brickhouse, 1994;Delamont, 1989;Harding, 1991;Schiebinger, 1989). Some research has shown that supportive science networks have had a positive influence on women's participation and retention in science practices (AAUW, 1992;Keith & Keith, 1989;Kreinberg & Lewis, 1996;Varanka-Martin, 1996). In order to provide a better understanding of the role social capital plays in women's legitimate participation in science, I draw upon the findings of a qualitative study that examines the valued capital, ways, and practices of a support group for women working in the sciences at an academic research institution. Findings from this study indicate how women 1) were given little access to powerful networks in science that would provide them with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, skills, and resources necessary to be legitimate in the traditional sense, and 2) encountered many obstacles in their attempts to develop networks and make such connections between themselves and other women. Findings also indicate that, despite these impediments, the support group provided a meaningful and resourceful network through which they developed a critical perspective of legitimacy as they sought to make explicit the "culture of science." Participants not only employed the traditional methods of scientific inquiry, but also acknowledged and valued the voices and experiences of those from nondominant groups. They constructed a new discourse that was inclusive of diverse voices, created new career pathways, and developed a vision of mentoring that facilitated females' development of a critical view of the science community and their legitimate participation.

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This article reports on a study that examined the obstacles women science educators faced as they facilitated Explorers, an after-school science program for girls aged 6±12. The program aimed to provide girls with opportunities to legitimately participate in science activity. Explorers was one of several programs offered by the Foothills City Youth Club (FCYC) in a racially diverse urban center in the Southwestern United States. The youth club was meant to serve the needs of children and youth in that community. Through analysis of ®eld notes, interviews, and documents, the social structures and forces that impeded the implementation of practices and the acquisition of capital are described. They include: (a) inadequate funding and community support, (b) con¯icting beliefs between FCYC leaders and community leaders about the needs of boys and girls, and 3) inequitable decision-making structures of the community. Underlying beliefs, structures, and practices within the community weakened the FCYC in many ways, interrupted the leadership's attempts to meet their goals as they worked with the community's children, and brought to the surface issues of bias and oppression. ß