Disrupting Heteronormativity in High School Biology: A Narrative Exploration of a Biology Teacher

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 2:30 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Disrupting Normativity and Engaging Criticality (Table 26)

Abstract

This study investigates how the lived experiences of a fourth-year genderqueer biology teacher inform their desire and ability to create gender-inclusive biology curricula. We used a conceptual framework grounded in generational wealth (GW) and sociotransformative constructive (sTc) to make meaning of our participant’s lived experiences and how they situate power and agency in the classroom. Our data sources included four narrative interviews and a curriculum unit. Using thematic narrative analysis, we developed three narrative threads highlighting how Teacher Johnson’s intersectional identities as a transnational adoptee and gender non-conforming person influence their identity as a teacher and how they create queer and gendered curriculum. Implications of this study illustrate specific lived experiences as the catalyst in developing a critically-minded teacher.

Authors

• Khanh Tran, Purdue University

• Olivia M. Magnuson, Indianapolis Public Schools

• Eric Johnson

• Selcen Guzey, Purdue University