Examining Culturally Responsive Education in the Context of an Elementary School Science Unit

• In Event: Teacher Research: Building Student Agency and Motivation

Abstract

What is culturally responsive education? What might it look like in a classroom setting? In this paper I share how I enacted and researched aspects of culturally responsive curriculum and pedagogy in my Grade 2 classroom. I used a critical or emancipatory form of qualitative action research because it is not only aimed at gaining a better understanding of what is happening in the classroom, but it is also aimed at transforming and changing the practice of teaching towards more equity. I also share a framework of questions that educators could ask themselves in order to assess their current practice as culturally responsive educators. These questions relate to the students, their families and the community members, the curriculum and pedagogy.

Author

• Heather Van Ooyen, The University of British Columbia