"Engaging Across Boundaries": An Equitable Teaching and Learning Approach to Environmental Education at a School in the Woods (Poster 4)

• In Event: Equity in Elementary Science Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Problem. We take up the question of how equitable principles can be recognized/practiced by looking at Engaging Across Boundaries (EAB) a pedagogical approach which creates opportunities for youth and teachers to engage in science practices while working collaboratively across differences of race, gender, socioeconomic status, language etc. EAB was developed to bring youth together across differences to engage in scientific practices and in the process advance race-equity work in a developmentally appropriate way. This poster focuses on EAB as an example of equitable teaching and learning at an environmental learning center which serves youth from dominant and nondominant communities. We ask: 1) What are the pedagogical affordances of “engaging across boundaries” (EAB)? and 2) How can EAB build educator and youth capacity for equity via collaborative problem solving in environmental education contexts?
Design. When working with graduate students in our program we often separate the task and goal of an activity as a way of engaging their thinking about how pedagogy and design play out in their work with youth. In EAB, the task is for the 4-6th grade students to design and conduct a science investigation. The goal, is for youth to engage with others across dimensions of difference, see others as knowledge holders, to learn how to collaborate, and to value the contributions of others when engaging in scientific investigations. EAB creates opportunities for youth and facilitators to see expertise emerge across boundaries. We draw upon three design elements: 1) engaging in games and play to build relationships, 2) designing student-led science investigations, 3) collaborative sense-making using data, knowledge, and practices that bring the whole group together around productive disciplinary engagement (Engle & Conant, 2002).
Findings & Analysis. Our data include video-recordings, stimulated recall interviews, field notes, and artifacts collected during graduate student practicum-10 months of teaching and learning. We leverage the following theoretical frames to understand teaching and learning in EAB collaborative problem solving (Barron, 2000), curricular design for genius (Muhammad, 2020), and developing interpretive power (Rosebery, Warren & Tucker-Raymond, 2015). These findings are of interest to those seeking pedagogical approaches to relationship-driven science practices.
Contribution/Significance. This poster examines the implementation and refinement of this pedagogical approach, with youth from a variety of socioeconomic and racial backgrounds to center equity in a scientific investigation through collaborative problem solving. We are inspired by the work of adrienne maree brown who states, “There is a conversation in the room that only these people at this moment can have. Find it.” EAB builds upon the idea that the right people are in the room and that these are the right people to engage in a collaborative investigation as an example of design for equity in environmental education and science practice.

Authors

• Déana A Scipio, IslandWood

• Breanna Caruso, Islandwood