Tracing Different Forms of Politicized Care in Teaching Physics to Students Traditionally Underserved in Science

• In Event: Critical Topics in Science Teaching and Learning

Abstract

In this year-long, naturalistic case study in a high school physics classroom, we examine the different dimensions of politicized care displayed by Sarah, an African American teacher teaching physics to working-class students of color traditionally underserved in science. Through field observations and interviews, we identified the various forms of care, social, epistemic, and academic, of Sarah’s politicized care. We describe tensions and synergies among these expressions of care, differentially shaping opportunities for students’ disciplinary learning. Our findings call for conceptualizing politicized care as an essential aspect of effective physics teaching, especially for minoritized students. This care involves careful acts of balancing disciplinary and teaching demands mindful of wider societal/institutional inequities while honoring children as social, academic, and epistemic beings.

Authors

• Clausell Mathis, Michigan State University

• Lama Ziad Jaber, Florida State University

• Sherry A. Southerland, Florida State University