Political Empowerment in Formal School Science (Poster 28)

• In Event: Sunday Poster Session 11:25 am
  In Poster Session: Sociopolitical Issues in Mathematics and Science Education: Navigating Learning Pathways

Abstract

How do we teach science in politically empowering ways within science education? This research reports on a teacher inquiry group of science educators who met for four years to examine how student empowerment was actualized in our classrooms. We drew upon a shared understanding of social justice and empowerment by utilizing an empowerment framework (Author, 2012; Authors, 2019). Data analysis revealed several ways political empowerment emerged in our practice and include the complexities of operationalizing shared classroom authority, including student voice and student-driven curricula, and the ways in which we and our students navigated civic engagement, such as activism and going public with our work. Our research explicates these themes and demonstrates them through rich examples of curricular content.

Authors

• Lauren Urban, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Alexandra Schindel, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Sara E. Tolbert, Monash University