Planting Seeds for Pedagogical Change: Equity Conjectures for Organizational Learning in Academic Departments

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 11:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Roundtable: Higher Education and the Learning Sciences

Abstract

This conceptual paper outlines the design process for a project aimed at transforming geoscience departments toward equity-minded pedagogy. Drawing on design-based research and formative intervention, we develop equity conjectures — design hypotheses that link ideological and material supports to equitable learning outcomes – to guide departments in historicizing disciplinary logics, critically reflecting on exclusionary norms, and co-designing sustained curricular and pedagogical change. Our intervention includes a Short Course and Summer Change Institute to support organizational learning across relational, pedagogical, and structural dimensions. The resulting conjecture map theorizes how cycles of inquiry and collective reflection can rearticulate departmental practices and foster equity-conjecture transformation, offering a testable model for shifting disciplinary culture and pedagogy in the geosciences.

Authors

• Reina Yorba-Rico, California State University - Monterey Bay

• Karina Flores-Camacho, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Aida Arosoaie, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Aireale J. Rodgers, University of Wisconsin - Madison