Expanding Responsive Science Teaching to Account for Equity-Oriented Considerations (Poster 5)

• In Event: Attending to the Crevasse Between Equity- and Content-Oriented Goals in Science Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Objectives. In this poster, we join efforts to promote social justice and equity in and through science education, with attention to conceptualizing teacher responses and teacher-student interactions. Specifically, we extend disciplinary responsive teaching with a conceptual framework that explores the multiplicity of potential teacher responses to students’ contributions in ways that consider cultural, community, relational, and sociopolitical goals teachers may address in addition to, or instead of, disciplinary goals (Kang, 2022; van Es et al, 2022). We illustrate this framework to explore tensions and synergies associated with this expansive version of responsive teaching.

Perspectives. To re-envision possibilities for responsive science teaching in more equity-and justice-oriented ways, we examined research on critical, social-justice and equity-oriented pedagogies, which continues to be relevant decades after it was first published (e.g., Aikenhead, 1996; Asante, 1991; Atwater, 1996; Hodson, 1999; Ladson-Billings, 1995). Using this literature base, our framework identifies three consistent, entangled themes for promoting educational justice: affirming identity and culture; nurturing relationships and classroom community; and cultivating critical/socio-political consciousness.

Data Sources and Methods. We provided 18 elementary teachers with two vignettes that depicted actual classroom discussions and student contributions. In an anonymous survey, each teacher identified three different ways they might respond to the student contributions. We employed thematic coding of each hypothetical response for implicit or explicit attention to the three themes for promoting equity-oriented goals identified in our framework, as well as for attention to the discipline.

Results. Our preliminary analyses reveal that each of the four themes were evident in the teachers’ responses and often co-occurred in a single response. For example, one vignette features a discussion about forest fires, in which a student, Talon, says smoke is dangerous and another student, King, responds by discussing tear gas. One participant teacher suggested that they might respond, “King, can you tell us how your idea about tear gas agrees or disagrees with Talon’s thinking?” We argue that this response attends to the themes of Relationships by asking that he connect with his classmate’s thinking and Identity/Culture by validating the potentially charged experience of tear gas.
The theme Attention to Discipline appeared most often alone or paired with attention to Identity/Culture. For example, responding to the same student comment about tear gas, another teacher proposed saying:
I see King has a lot of knowledge about hazardous things. His understanding of toxins, how smoke can hurt our lungs and the dangers of tear gas might be very valuable to our discussions as we move forward learning about fire and energy.
Here, the teacher emphasizes connections between King’s idea and Disciplinary goals, while validating King’s insertion of his Identity by naming his experiences “valuable.”

Significance. Our findings suggest that teachers hold multiple considerations and negotiate across multiple goals as they respond to complex student ideas. However, they further suggest a potential tension between attention to science content and more equity-oriented themes for some teachers. In our full poster, we will further explore how teachers navigate this potential tension.

Authors

• Allison Bradford, University of California - Berkeley
  Presenting Author

• Sara Dozier, California State University - Long Beach
  Presenting Author

• Emily Adah Miller, University of Georgia
  Presenting Author

• Jennifer Richards, Northwestern University
  Presenting Author

• Lama Ziad Jaber, Florida State University
  Presenting Author

• Leema G. Berland, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author