Understanding Science as Culture: Examining the Influence of a Research Experience for Teachers Program

• In Event: 72.043 - Teacher Education and Professional Development in STEM Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the ways in which teachers describe and understand science as a cultural endeavor after participating in a six-week Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program held at a national laboratory in the southeastern United States. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with ten alumni from RETs that took place between 2011-2015. Each interview transcript was analyzed for themes around the social, epistemic, material, and agentive/authoritative aspects of science, which are conceptualized as the cultural features of science within this work. A preliminary analysis of three participants is included in this proposal with promising findings, suggesting that teachers come away from RET participation with a more robust understanding of science as a cultural endeavor.

Authors

• Shannon Lee Gooden, Florida State University

• Roxanne M. Hughes