Equity in Science Education in the Context of Globalization

• In Event: 52.078 - Equity in Science Teacher Education: Toward an Expanded Definition

Abstract

Science education has to put social justice at the center of its equity agenda. In this paper I discuss how social justice in the context of a middle school science classroom provides a basis for an equity oriented class. In this paper I conceptualize equity to be rooted in four components of social justice; namely, access to good resources, academic success, identity, and power; and situated in the context of globalized classroom. Through a qualitative data analysis, I present how the four components of equity intersect and create opportunities to a teacher and his students in a science class as well as challenges that the teacher and his students face in this type of science classroom. The paper argues that equity is highly contextual and demands fluidity in what counts as equity oriented science education. The data presented in this study were collected over one year long teacher change initiative carried out at a school district with very high number of students from recent immigrant families representing more than 36 different countries.

Author

• Bhaskar Upadhyay, University of Minnesota