Engaging Science Counterstories to Support Equity-Minded Science Teaching Goals and Identities

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 8
  In Poster Session: Science Teaching and Learning: Equity and Social Justice in Science Education

Abstract

To address the challenge of supporting science teacher candidates in developing and translating critical perspectives on science into equity-minded teaching goals, this critical qualitative inquiry examines the teacher learning affordances and constraints of a Science Counterstory Book Club. The inquiry is situated in the pedagogical dimensions of counterstorytelling and sociocultural and sociopolitical perspectives on learning to analyze instructor- and student-generated artifacts produced during Book Club. Findings show that while the module revealed central science-specific majoritarian narratives about scientific knowledge construction, provided access to counterstories that directly interrogated these narratives, and supported equity-minded goals and stance-taking, more explicit attention to diversifying the counterstories represented, scaffolding systemic analyses of power, and confronting participants’ positional identities could support more transformative possibilities.

Author

• Manali J. Sheth, Connecticut College