Antiracist and Socially Just STEM Teaching: Possibilities of Embedded, Extended, and Place-Based Teacher Education

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 4:20 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Transformative Pedagogical Stances in STEM Settings (Table 32)

Abstract

Traditional teacher education models, when not critically examined, run the risk of reproducing inequities and further excluding historically marginalized youth from high-quality STEM learning environments. This study explores pre-service and beginning in-service teacher learning of antiracist and socially just (ARSJ) teaching practices within a teacher education reform model that makes use of extended, embedded, and place-based supports. Utilizing ethnographic design-based research methods and drawing on sociocultural learning theories, findings were organized around the following themes: 1) Elements of a developing school culture and 2) Participants’ engagement with opportunities to learn ARSJ STEM teaching practices. Findings suggest participants experienced challenges and possibilities in moving elements of ARSJ teaching into practice. This study has implications for teacher education design towards ARSJ aims.

Author

• Rachael Gordon, University of Michigan