A Battle of Frames: How Contested Framing Reveals Power and Shapes Learning in Introductory Chemistry

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 34
  In Roundtable Session: Power and Representation in STEM Education: Contesting the "Black Box" of Inclusion

Abstract

Dominant cultural frames, like that of ‘doing school,’ organize uneven relations of power in moment-to-moment interactions (Hand, Penuel & Gutiérrez, 2012). This paper examines framing and power in the context of a design-based research study, which reorganizes an undergraduate introductory chemistry course around supporting students to see chemical thinking and learning as the collaborative, iterative, messy practices of building understanding from data. Through close examination of video-recorded student interactions, I analyze how frames and framing dynamics shape and reshape power and opportunities to learn in the redesigned course. The data provide an opportunity to examine the conditions under which dominant cultural frames are contested and dislodged, at least momentarily, to support learning.

Author

• Erin Sandhusen Palmer, University of California - Berkeley