Making Science Homework Work: The Perspectives of Exemplary African American Science Teachers

Abstract

Background/Context Despite the best intentions to close the achievement gap, the under-achievement of African American students in science is a persistent problem. It is surprising to note, however, that research on science education has often failed to consider students’ cultural diversity as it relates to science education. On the few occasions when efforts were made to link science disciplines and students’ cultural backgrounds, these studies were largely limited to classroom learning environments. Purpose/Research Question This study examines the perspectives of exemplary African American teachers toward science homework. Specifically, we address two research questions: What does science homework mean to exemplary African American science teachers? How do they approach science homework? Research Design A qualitative study was conducted, with data obtained from the following sources: (a) three open-ended, in-depth interviews with each exemplary teacher during the first year of the study, and (b) two focus group interviews with these teachers during the second year of the study. The participants were 8 exemplary African American science teachers in Grades 3–6 in the southeastern United States. Findings/Results Data revealed that these teachers shared a strong sense of urgency to use homework as an important vehicle in science learning. To help their students be successful with their homework, these teachers often provided additional provisions and used a variety of strategies to promote students’ interest in their homework. In addition, the teachers adapted an approach comparable to both Boykin's Afrocultural ethos (e.g., concerned with affect, expressive individualism, and verve) and “being a warm demander” (i.e., setting high expectations and insisting firmly yet respectfully that students meet those expectations). Conclusions These findings suggest that there is merit in integrating these two frameworks to better understand the perspectives of exemplary African American teachers toward science homework. These findings highlight the need to examine the perspectives of exemplary African American teachers toward secondary school science homework given that the poor achievement of African American students becomes more pronounced as they progress through school, and homework is found to be more strongly associated with secondary school students than elementary school students.

Identifying pre–high school students’ science class motivation profiles to increase their science identification and persistence.

“…Empowering students can meet students’ psychological need for autonomy and is consistent with the tenets of self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000). In the domain of science, students who have been provided with autonomy have reported higher levels of intrinsic motivation (Berger & Hanze, 2009), interest experience (Tsai, Kunter, Ludtke, Trautwein, & Ryan, 2008), interest in science (Bulunuz, & Jarrett, 2015; Xu, Coats, & Davidson, 2012), and engagement (Hafen et al, 2012), all of which can contribute to students’ science identification.…”

Comprehension of argumentation in mathematical text: what is the role of interest?

“…Interest together with other learner characteristics (prior coursework and proof scheme) was related to learners' comprehension of mathematical argumentation in text. In previous studies, learners have been able to develop all three of these characteristics when provided with appropriate instructional support (e.g., Blanton & Stylianou, 2014;Segal, 1999;Xu et al, 2012). If support were provided to trigger learners' interest, we conjecture this would enable them to make connections to the texts with which they work.…”

“…During the 1980s and 1990s, numerous investigations were conducted which underscored the importance of interest in comprehension of text (see reviews in Hidi, 2001;Schraw & Lehman, 2001), and research has shown that supporting learners to work with personalized features of mathematics text has a positive influence on performance (e.g., Clinton & Walkington, 2019). Studies have also demonstrated that educators are uniquely positioned to support their students to develop their interest in and seriously engage with mathematics through the selections and design choices that they make about instruction, as well as in their follow-through to support learners to make connections to the content with which they are working (e.g., Bernacki & Walkington, 2018;Crouch et al, 2018;Xu et al, 2012). However, investigations that consider interest, other learner characteristics, and students' comprehension of mathematical argumentation in text are lacking.…”

Black male success in STEM: A case study of Morehouse College.

“…Our findings confirm that prior research establishing the positive influence of committed faculty on student achievement, but also brings to bear ideas not identified in the HBCU literature. First, Morehouse faculty “scaffolds interest [in science] through offering multiple standpoints” (Xu, Coats, & Davidson, 2012, p. 148) as minority educators and scientists. But aside from interest, Morehouse faculty, through their various perspectives, can improve students’ retention and engagement in STEM (Gasiewski et al, 2012).…”