"Wow! Did You Make This?" Supporting and Recognizing Students' Multiple and Powerful Forms of Expertise

• In Event: 31.079 - Science Teaching and Learning SIG Paper Session: Community and Collaboration

Abstract

We explored what pedagogical strategies supported students in bridging their broader community and school lives in an energy science unit and the outcomes of leveraging students’ cultural, science, family and community expertise. We used critical ethnographic methods and a culturally sustaining pedagogy/social practice theory lens. Powerful strategies included: encouraging students in defining the technical and social design specifications, providing access to a broad array of resources, and encouraging multiple design iterations. Students were recognized holistically for who they were as science-doing community members by people across their daily lives. This supported a break-down in dominant power hierarchies that position teachers as experts and students as lacking. Community members also developed new expertise through the recognition process.

Authors

• Kathleen Schenkel, Michigan State University

• Angela Calabrese Barton, University of Michigan