Drawing on Relational Capital to Solve Community-Based Problems in Mathematics and Science Instruction

• In Event: Critical Approaches to STEM Education

Abstract

In this paper, we describe how a university-school partnership supported middle school mathematics and science teachers’ relational capital when tasking students with community-based design problems. We explain 1) how empathy uses aspirational capital to demonstrate teachers support for students’ lived experiences and academic goals, 2) how experiential praxes in design thinking connect familial and linguistic capitals to assist teachers in leveraging positive relationships with students, and 3) how generative praxes link navigational, social, and resistant capitals, allowing teachers to empower students to maneuver through educational spaces. This would be a significant contribution to the literature on how teachers seek to humanize science and mathematics learning by attending to minoritized learners’ affect and experiences when problem-solving is sparse.

Authors

• Deena Khalil, Howard University

• Meredith Weaver Kier, College of William and Mary

• Adrian Wayne Bruce, Prince George's County Public Schools

• Kelly Leffel, College of William and Mary

• Turhan Carroll, The Ohio State University - Columbus