Examining Preservice Learning for Justice-Orientated Teaching in an Informal STEM Program

• In Event: Science Teaching and Learning Toward Collaborative Social Transformation and Justice

Abstract

Engagement in science is grounded in people’s lived lives and community wisdom, which yield powerful forms of cultural knowledge and practice relevant to science (Tuck, 2009). However, in many school experiences, students’ cultural knowledge and practices are positioned as non-integral to the disciplines themselves, and de-legitimized among the discourses and practices of classroom learning (Mutegi, 2011).
Justice orientated science teaching counters these erasures by foregrounding an assets-based stance that amplifies youth and community voices (Morales-Doyle, 2017). Many of these learning opportunities are situated in informal spaces where youth have opportunities to leverage their cultural and community resources as assets to participating with science in ways that contextualize and make learning consequential for youth (author, 2017).
Despite the wealth of research revealing the power of informal learning for youth, little is understood about how informal science learning programs can be spaces of teacher learning. This study examines the experiences of two pre-service teachers (PSTs) who worked as teachers and mentors in an after-school STEM program. I investigated; In what ways, if any, does participation in an informal science learning program impact PSTs conceptions of justice-oriented science teaching?
This study takes place in an after-school STEM program for middle grades youth focused on bridging science and community. Data were gathered from two PSTs who participated in the program for two years. Data include weekly digital diaries, interviews, and video recordings were analyzed using the “noticing for equity” framework (van Es & Merchado, 2017). In particular, analysis focused on what, how and if PSTs noticed the ways in which youth brought in an leveraged their cultural and community knowledge/practices when participating in STEM investigations.
Findings reveal that participation in and reflection of informal STEM learning experiences support PSTs growth in :
a) Recognizing youths’ everyday experiences and community wisdom as assets to learning and participating in STEM
b) Linking pedagogical practices to opportunities for youth to leverage areas of expertise not traditionally sanctioned in science.
c) Reflecting on their emerging and transforming conceptions of what science learning and participating can look like.
As one PST reflected,
“I was impressed at how much some students knew about the issues they chose. They thought about what their community needs and wants and tried to make their surveys so they could understand those better ... There were times I wasn’t sure we were doing science, now I see how important these issues are to the kids and how much they want to solve them. Because of that, they get to use science to do something.”

Megan’s reflection reveals how she recognizes youth expertise and its vital role for learning and participating in this project. The surveys were a pedagogical practice that she both recognized as important and caused her to question its connection to the discipline. This study holds promise to highlight how informal STEM programs can and do contribute to teacher learning in justice orientated ways.

Author

• Daniel Birmingham, Colorado State University