Transforming Science Teaching for Equity and Justice by Teachers and Researchers Working Together

• In Event: Articulating Theoretical and Methodological Approaches for Mathematics and Science Teachers' Pursuit of Racial Justice

Abstract

Purpose. This study intends to understand how professional learning opportunities were co-constructed across the settings and over time in a year-long research-practice partnership focusing on transforming science teaching for equity and justice, and its impact on teachers’ and students’ practices and relationships. The questions that guide the analysis are:
What were the features of activity systems (roles, positioning, tasks, division of labor, tools), and how did the components of the system mediate the professional interactions across settings and over time?
To what extent were the teachers’ and students’ practices and relationships changed, over time either individually or collectively?

Perspective(s). Grounded in the view that the persistent inequity and injustice at schools have to do with ‘educational debt’ (Ladson-Billings, 2006), promoting equity and justice through science teaching is conceptualized as expanding opportunities to learn (OTL) for students from non-dominant communities. By OTL, I mean affordances of the settings for changing learners to participate in practices in a way that is valued by the community (Greeno & Gresalfi, 2008). A key for expanding OTL for minoritized students is to de-settle the settled hierarchies, normalized expectations, and practices (Bang at al., 2012). In order to recognize professional learning for equity and justice, this study focuses on two key changes in the work that teachers do--practices and relationships--and how it affects minoritized students’ OTL.

Methods. This study employs a qualitative multiple case study approach (Merriam, 2009). The context of this study is a year-long research-practice partnership (RPP) at a Title I high school that serves predominantly Latinx, multilingual students from low-income families. Three chemistry teachers and researchers co-designed and enacted equity, justice-oriented, curriculum and assessments in two units with the goal of expanding the students’ opportunity to learn.

Data sources and analysis. A total of about 52 hours of PD videos, 30 hours of teaching videos, about 460 minutes of interviews, and artifacts are analyzed. The analysis examines the process of co-constructing learning experiences mediated by activity systems and any changes in teachers’ and students’ practices, tool use, and relationships over time.

Findings. The preliminary analyses reveal a few notable patterns. First, as co-designers, teachers and researchers leveraged both research knowledge and contextual knowledge to create powerful learning experiences. Second, a set of design principles (e.g., ‘making it matter’, ‘disrupting power hierarchy’) facilitated principled pedagogical actions both inside and outside the classrooms while engaging the team in the conversation about the ‘why’ part of the pedagogy, beyond ‘what’ to do. Third, teachers shifted their approaches to teaching chemistry from topic-focused to phenomena-focused while humanizing the experiences. The teachers decided to revamp the whole curriculum in the following year. The teachers also developed a strong value about and practices of collaborating with colleagues. Fourth, the researcher revised the design principles informed by teachers’ use and interpretations about them.

Scholarly significance of the study. This study shows what is possible when teachers and researchers collaborate with a shared commitment, while unpacking the meaning of ‘collaborations’ and the process of co-constructing learning experiences.

Authors

• Hosun Kang, Seoul National University

• Raúl Orduña Picón, University of Massachusetts - Boston