“…Given that many of the studies were conducted prior to the recent emphasis on engineering practices in science education (NRC, 2012), there was an over‐representation of Constructing Explanations (present with CRIOP pillars 129 times, 78% of all instances for this category) compared to Designing Solutions (37 times, 22%). Together, these practices were used to advance culturally congruent communication and linguistic competence (e.g., Reveles & Brown, ), draw upon students’ experiences and knowledge during instruction (e.g., Carlone & Johnson, ; Nam et al, ), and advance sociopolitical consciousness (e.g., Boutte et al, ; Chinn, ), thereby promoting meaningful learning tasks that were connected to students’ lives. For example, in his case study of Jane's 4th grade classroom comprised primarily of Latino/a students, Upadhyay () discussed the importance of welcoming and honoring students’ backgrounds when scaffolding opportunities to construct experience‐based explanations of natural phenomena: Jane was teaching “what [do] plants need to grow?” from the LiFE [ Linking Food and the Environment ] curriculum.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…For some time now, it has been argued that culturally responsive‐ and Western science‐based education are at odds (McKinley & Gan, ; Nam et al, ). Yet, the studies examined in this metasynthesis provide evidence to the contrary.…”
Section: Implications For Practice and Future Researchmentioning
“…Given that many of the studies were conducted prior to the recent emphasis on engineering practices in science education (NRC, 2012), there was an over‐representation of Constructing Explanations (present with CRIOP pillars 129 times, 78% of all instances for this category) compared to Designing Solutions (37 times, 22%). Together, these practices were used to advance culturally congruent communication and linguistic competence (e.g., Reveles & Brown, ), draw upon students’ experiences and knowledge during instruction (e.g., Carlone & Johnson, ; Nam et al, ), and advance sociopolitical consciousness (e.g., Boutte et al, ; Chinn, ), thereby promoting meaningful learning tasks that were connected to students’ lives. For example, in his case study of Jane's 4th grade classroom comprised primarily of Latino/a students, Upadhyay () discussed the importance of welcoming and honoring students’ backgrounds when scaffolding opportunities to construct experience‐based explanations of natural phenomena: Jane was teaching “what [do] plants need to grow?” from the LiFE [ Linking Food and the Environment ] curriculum.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…For some time now, it has been argued that culturally responsive‐ and Western science‐based education are at odds (McKinley & Gan, ; Nam et al, ). Yet, the studies examined in this metasynthesis provide evidence to the contrary.…”
Section: Implications For Practice and Future Researchmentioning
“…Culturally responsive science education is multifaceted. It is characterized by respectful and inclusive learning environments where multiple perspectives are acknowledged (Johnson, ), language supports are widely implemented (Lee, ), instruction begins from students’ experiences (Mensah, ), and indigenous knowledge is featured in the official curriculum when appropriate (Nam, Roehrig, Kern, & Reynolds, .). Culturally responsive science teachers position students as leaders in the science classroom (Lewthwaite & McMillan, ), uses science content as a platform to challenge stereotypes and biases (Laughter & Adams, ), and engage students as social activists (Tsurusaki, Calabrese Barton, Tan, Koch, & Contento, ).…”
Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Consistent with Ladson‐Billings’ (, ) original focus, much of the work to date on culturally relevant teaching practices has centered on pre‐ and in‐service science teachers’ beliefs about the importance of attending to culture in the science classroom (Atwater, Freeman, Butler, & Draper‐Morris, ), practices in the science classroom (Kelly‐Jackson & Jackson, ), and supports provided when designing culturally relevant lessons (Mensah, ). However, pockets of research have examined critical consciousness‐ and cultural competence building in students (Tsurusaki et al., ) and the degree to which indigenous students’ experiences are included in the classroom (Nam et al., ).…”
Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…In particular, science teachers struggle with using students’ lives as starting points for instruction. For instance, after participating in a 3‐year professional development program on climate change education in American Indian communities, Nam and colleagues () found that science teachers “were [still] limited in choosing topics relevant to American Indian culture” (p. 143). A number of researchers have described science teachers’ challenges to this end (e.g., Patchen & Cox‐Petersen, ; Bianchini & Brenner, ).…”
Scholars argue that bridging students’ backgrounds with canonical science is necessary for students of color by reducing incongruences between home and school and increasing the authenticity of science learning. However, science teachers often struggle with enacting culturally responsive pedagogies (CRP). This paper utilizes data from classroom observations, group interviews, and numerous program artifacts to describe four themes associated with the knowledge and practices of six high school life science teachers as they learned about and attempted to enact CRP while participating in a professional development program. These themes include views of students that changed from a focus on indirect experiences and emphasizing what students lacked to direct experiences and discussions of resources that they brought to the classroom; repositioning of students and teachers that was originally undetectable but moved to situating students as leaders with authoritative knowledge that constructed products together; community building that was done to promote interaction, learning, and give voice to students; and utilizing a CRP toolbox of responsive strategies and relevant topics to create bridges between students’ homes and school. At times, however, there was little connection to families’ funds of knowledge and sporadic critical consciousness raising. Implications for equitable science teacher development are discussed.
We propose a process of contextualization based on seven empirically derived contextualization principles, aiming to provide opportunities for Indigenous Mexican adolescents to learn science in a way that supports them in fulfilling their right to an education aligned with their own culture and values. The contextualization principles we empirically derived account for Nahua students' cultural cognition, socialization, and cultural narratives, thus supporting Indigenous students in navigating the differences between their culture and the culture and language of school while learning complex science concepts such as natural selection. The process of curricular contextualization we propose is empirically driven, taking culture and socialization into account by using multiples sources (cognitive tasks to explore teleology, ethnographic observation of students' community and classroom, and interviews with students and community members) and builds on the scholarship in Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Indigenous Education. We used these principles to redesign a middle school biology unit on natural selection to make it more culturally relevant for Nahua students. The enactment of this unit resulted in students being engaged in science learning and achieving significant learning gains. The significance of this study lies in presenting evidence that learning science in culturally relevant ways supports the learning of challenging biology concepts. We provide evidence that Western science can be learned in ways that are more aligned with Indigenous students'
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