Preparing Science Teachers for Culturally Diverse Students: Developing Cultural Literacy Through Cultural Immersion, Cultural Translators and Communities of Practice

Abstract

This three year study of P-12 professional development is grounded in sociocultural theories that hold that building knowledge and relationships among individuals from different cultural backgrounds entails joint activity toward common goals and cultural dialogues mediated by cultural translators. Sixty P-12 pre-and in-service teachers in a year long interdisciplinary science curriculum course shared the goal of developing culturally relevant, standards-based science curricula for Native Hawaiian students. Teachers and Native Hawaiian instructors lived and worked together during a five day culture-science immersion in rural school and community sites and met several times at school, university, and community sites to build knowledge and share programs. Teachers were deeply moved by immersion experiences, learned to connect cultural understandings, e.g., a Hawaiian sense of place and curriculum development, and highly valued collaborating with peers on curriculum development and implementation. The study finds that long term professional development providing situated learning through cultural immersion, cultural translators, and interdisciplinary instruction supports the establishment of communities of practice in which participants develop the cross-cultural knowledge and literacy needed for the development of locally relevant, place and standards-based curricula and pedagogy.

Indigenous knowledge and science revisited

“…Indigenous ways of living in nature are also embedded in local entertainment such as drama, proverbs, and jokes (George 1999b). Proverbs are particularly powerful in the Indigenous culture of Hawai'i (Chinn 2006). No wonder a journal article is unable to specify concrete instances of Indigenous ways of living in nature.…”

“…(Battiste and Henderson 2000;Cajete 2000b;Chinn 2006;Kawagley et al 1998). Such a worldview is sustained by Indigenous languages.…”

Mālama I Ka ‘Āina, Sustainability: learning from Hawai‘i’s displaced place and culture-based science standard

“…The right to use resources was directly linked to responsibility, kuleana, to maintain resources. In my experience (Chinn 2006), inquirybased science education incorporating place and culture can empower Hawai'i's teachers to apply principles of kuleana to initiate school and community-based monitoring and biorestoration programs.…”

Authentic science experiences as a vehicle to change students’ orientations toward science and scientific career choices: Learning from the path followed by Brad

“…In this vein, authentic science experiences like the one Brad underwent are required for matters of decolonization, that is, to avoid indoctrinating students of different origin with particular forms of knowledge that constrain their capabilities to both contribute to and articulate their cultural identity through practices in which they engage as part of schooling and future careers. Other scholars have suggested the need for creating starting points in education where cultural knowledge, perspectives, and practices required for richer, more complex ways to understanding the world can enrich mainstream science (education) (e.g., Chinn 2006). We envision the authentic science experiences in which Brad engaged in the practice of nature conservation as such a starting point.…”