A metasynthesis of the complementarity of culturally responsive and inquiry‐based science education in K‐12 settings: Implications for advancing equitable science teaching and learning

Abstract

Employing metasynthesis as a method, this study examined 52 empirical articles on culturally relevant and responsive science education in K‐12 settings to determine the nature and scope of complementarity between culturally responsive and inquiry‐based science practices (i.e., science and engineering practices identified in the National Research Council's Framework for K‐12 Science Education). The findings from this study indicate several areas of complementarity. Most often, the inquiry‐based practices Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information, Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions, and Developing and Using Models were used to advance culturally responsive instruction and assessment. The use and development of models, in particular, allowed students to explore scientific concepts through families’ funds of knowledge and explain content from Western science and Indigenous Knowledge perspectives. Moreover, students frequently Analyzed and Interpreted Data when interrogating science content in sociopolitical consciousness‐raising experiences, such as identifying pollution and asthma incidences in an urban area according to neighborhood location. Specific inquiry‐based practices were underutilized when advancing culturally responsive science instruction, though. For example, Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking and Engaging in Argument from Evidence were infrequently encountered. However, culturally responsive engineering‐related practices were most often connected with these, and thus, represent potential areas for future complementarity, particularly as the United States embraces the Next Generation Science Standards. In considering innovative directions for advancing equitable science education, several possibilities are discussed in light of the findings of this study.© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 54:1143–1173, 2017

Illuminating political clarity in culturally relevant science instruction

“…Within the CRP in science education literature (see Brown, for a full review), sociopolitical consciousness has been largely absent and there are few examples of how science teachers engage this aspect of culturally relevant teaching. To highlight this third tenet and elaborate the nature of political clarity (Bartolome, ; Beauboeuf‐Lafontant, ) that can characterize a teacher's thoughts and actions, we draw attention to how developing students’ sociopolitical consciousness relies upon the clarity of science teachers as enacted through instruction.…”

“…A growing body of scholarship examines how preservice and inservice science teachers learn to and/or enact culturally relevant pedagogies (e.g., Adams & Laughter, 2012;Boutte, Kelly-Jackson, & Johnson, 2010;Brown, 2017;Brown & Crippen, 2016;Laughter & Adams, 2012;Madkins & Nasir, I Press;Mensah, 2011Mensah, , 2013; see Aronson & Laughter, 2016or Brown, 2017. Within this literature, there are limited empirical examples that illustrate how inservice science teachers enact CRP with attention to the intersections of race and class and science content and practices.…”

Reflections on and implications of the Programme for International Student Assessment 2015 (PISA 2015) performance of students in Taiwan: The role of epistemic beliefs about science in scientific literacy

“…The PISA framework and datasets provide a wide variety of variables related to the scientific literacy performance of students. Research studies have indicated that science‐related interest, enjoyment, engagement, and self‐efficacy (Hong, Lin, Wang, Chen, & Yu, ; Jack et al, ), as well as epistemic agency (Miller, Manz, Russ, Stroupe, & Berland, ) and inquiry‐based science teaching and learning (Brown, ), have significant impacts on students' scientific literacy performance. In addition to scientific literacy, student resilience has become a favorite topic for analysis.…”

Is Equity on Their Mind? Documenting Teachers’ Education Equity Mindset

“…Student-centered instruction has been effective for increasing equity in access to technology, equity in experience, equity in gender difference, and equity among diverse student populations (Bevan, Ryoo & Shea, 2017;Brown, 2017;Buffum, Frankosky, Boyer, Wiebe, Mott, & Lester, 2016). Student-centered learning increases education equity through the integrations of social or community relevant content and allowing students to choose learning activities and ways to demonstrate knowledge (Bevan, Ryoo, & Shea, 2017;Severance, et al, 2016).…”