Liberation, Truth and Science?: Learning from Black women ECE Teachers’ Pursuits to Teach Science

• In Event: Vamos a Placticar! Feminista Scholars Creating a Radical Refuge for Latina and Black Women ECE Educators

Abstract

Purpose
This case study shares the reflections of 4 Black women ECE teachers as they learn how to implement CHRE (Muhammad, 2023) within science lessons. All 4 participants work at the same single-sex school in the Southeast region that predominantly serves Black girls. While the school setting has a lot of the key ingredients for a culturally-affirming science learning environment for Black girls, the teachers report that they rarely teach the subject in order to meet the interests of the state (prioritizing math and ELA). Prior to this study, they also report seeking support with anti-racist and liberatory frameworks to aid them in their quest to give the Black girls in their classroom the learning environment that they deserve. Embarking on this journey of developing early childhood science lessons that are rooted in CHRE is labor intensive and adds to the free labor that Black women teachers have historically brought to the field (Campoli & Conrad-Popova, 2017). Tackling the work of teaching with a liberatory framework that dismantles the normed white, hegemonic culture of science requires healing, affinity spaces (Authors, 2023). Black women ECE teachers need and deserve Sista Circle spaces (Dunmeyer et al., 2023) and opportunities to build a Black science epistemology (Morton et al., 2022) in order to engage in this work from a place of wellness.

Theoretical Framework & Methods
Intersectional qualitative methods are primarily used in this case study. One of the data collection tools is a likert scale where participants self-report how often they engage in the 5 pursuits of CHRE, but the bulk of the data analysis is focused on the open-ended questions and reflections from the Black women ECE teachers. Theoretically, the teachers have the necessary pieces of a school rooted in liberation and truth at the curricular level. This is unfortunately not true in its entirety, for that reason an intersectional feminist lens is used to make sense of the experiences and reflections of the participants. Intersectionality counters single-axis ways of knowing, the belief that race, class, gender, sexuality, and other social markers are experienced or oppressed by systemic oppression separately (Hamilton, 2019).

Findings & Discussion
According to the emergent findings from this study, Black women ECE teachers are excited to learn about liberatory frameworks such as CHRE (Muhammad, 2023) to help them teach science. Science teaching and learning in early childhood spaces is rare, especially for multiply-marginalized students (Author, under review). Prior to learning about the 5 pursuits embedded in the CHRE frameworks, participants self-reported that they struggled to embed Criticality and skills (NGSS’s science and engineering practices) within their practice. Participants shared sentiments of excitement with teaching science with a lens of Criticality while also discussing external pressures that make the goals difficult. As a former science teacher and former science-curious young Black girl, and as the researcher and professional development facilitator for this project, I bring my reflections and desires to this work to support the participants and also develop what is possible with humanizing professional development for Black women ECE teachers.

Author

• Alexis Riley, New York University