Embodying Identities and Beliefs: A Queer Biology Teacher’s Counter-Storytelling of Science Learning

• In Event: Equity and Representation in Science Education

Abstract

In this inquiry, we aim to understand how a gender-nonconforming science teacher desettle cis-heteronormative Eurocentric expectations in biology learning. We explore specific beliefs and identities this teacher uses to cultivate queerness and disrupt heteronormativity by drawing on queer theory and science teachers’ beliefs. We also used spilling tea and kikis as forms of counterstorytelling, developing two narrative threads from narrative analysis. The findings suggest that the nature of science could be enacted as a practice of resistance to injustice by distinguishing science epistemology from multiple epistemologies. This study also engages in spilling tea and kiki as forms of counterstorytelling for LGBTQ+ individuals, expanding approaches to understanding and honoring the queer experience in teacher education research.

Authors

• Khanh Tran, Purdue University

• Olivia M. Magnuson, Indianapolis Public Schools

• Lynn A. Bryan, Purdue University

• Selcen Guzey, Purdue University