What Science Education Can Learn From Ethnic Studies

• In Event: 72.019 - Disrupting Intersecting Systems of Oppression in Science Education

Abstract

Improving educational opportunity and access in science education requires new approaches to address the disparity that persists between minoritized populations and their non-minoritized counterparts. The science education taught in the US school system is based on a Westernized model of science which is inherently Eurocentric and proclaimed to be universal and objective (Carter, 2004), despite the intrinsic coloniality embedded within it. Coloniality, namely the “long-standing patterns of power that emerged as a result of colonialism, that define culture, labor, intersubjective relations, and knowledge production” (Maldonado-Torres, 2007, p. 243), manifests itself in science education through what Bang, Warren, Rosebery, and Medin (2012) refer to as a ‘deficit discourse’, which in turn determines what constitutes smartness, right answers, and valid knowledges and experiences. As such, deficit discourses serve to marginalize minoritized populations from the sciences. Similarly, Coloniality also registers in science education through the hidden curriculum that lies beneath the surface, shadowing the official material that is conveyed to students. Through pedagogical interactions and classroom practices, the hidden curriculum reproduces inequality. (Kidman, Chieng-Fun, & Abrams, 2013). Accordingly, this paper explores how the inherent coloniality of science education can be effectively acknowledged and addressed in teacher education and in the classroom.

A decolonial approach to science education must then necessarily challenge the undoubted power and dominant nature of the Eurocentricism embedded in science as a whole. With this in mind, we see that ethnic studies can provide a useful and effective model for science education teaching, learning, and research. The premise of ethnic studies is its fundamental centering of minoritized groups, with a focus on the socio-politico-historical context that gave rise to, and continues to shape, how various racial and ethnic groups operate and interact in society. Moreover, using an ethnic studies framework enables the underlying coloniality of science education to be unveiled, thereby highlighting the bias and value-laden nature of science as a discipline. In doing so, we can therefore begin to think of ways to reshape science teacher education, science content, and pedagogy in a manner that seeks to provide minoritized populations with equal opportunities to be successful in the sciences.

This paper is based on a participatory action research project conducted with science teachers who identify as either activists or as social justice-oriented practitioners. As part of the process we held collaborative inquiry groups to focus on the challenges and successes that occur when implementing critical pedagogy and content into the science classroom. Through critical dialogue, mental mapping, and collaborative lesson planning we identified institutional, personal and pedagogical challenges to critical approaches to science education, while also building tools and resources to overcome them.

In its scope and purpose, this research contributes to the broader promotion of equity and social justice in science education. Drawing from the decolonial research of Wynter, Mignolo and others who provide a framework to conceptualize decoloniality in science education, this study will offer a valuable contribution to the growing body of work on decoloniality in education research.

Author

• LaToya Strong, The City University of New York