“Mapping Myself” Instrument: Building Bridges and Connections in/to Science, Community, and Sustainability

• In Event: Culturally Responsive Practices and Mentorship in STEM Education

Abstract

This study investigates how the “Mapping Myself” instrument supports students in expressing their complex, layered identities in science, intersecting science and community. Using participatory critical design-based research, we collaborated with an urban middle school located in a vibrant Arab-American community with ongoing migration from the Middle East. Ninety sixth-grade students participated in constructing multi-layered multi-media self-portraits to express their complex selves. Findings show how this instrument advances the goals of social justice through supporting the expression of multifaceted identities, providing critical recognition by themselves and others, disrupting traditional classroom norms about who and what belongs in science classrooms, fostering a sense of community. Recognizing these multilayered science identities supports meaningful engagement with students’ backgrounds as integral to science learning.

Authors

• Orwa Sedawi, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

• Wisam Sedawi, University of Michigan

• Angela Calabrese, University of Michigan