Making Meaning From the Past: An Examination of Pedagogical Practices of Elder Black Women Science Teachers

• In Event: For Us by Us: Sustaining Black Girls and Women in Education

Abstract

Purpose and Significance
This international, qualitative study situates the pedagogical practices of five Black women science teachers (BWSTs) that have surpassed some of the confines of ‘science as White property’ by looking back to when they were young Black girls themselves. Students of color are often discouraged from enjoying science subjects (Brand et al., 2006), often as a result of the pedagogical practices that still maintain the White status quo and culture of power of Western Modern Science; thus, when science is taught in these ways, science maintains its culture of power as exclusionary for most. In other words, “science as White property is a right for the possession, disposition, use and enjoyment for some and not for all” (Mensah & Jackson, 2018, p. 9). Science as White property is an extension of critical race theory that details the historical exclusion teachers and students of color experience when they attempt to use and enjoy science with their “indigenous knowledge, and cultural frames of reference” (Mensah & Jackson, 2018, p. 9).
Theoretical Framework
There are few Black women who persist in science majors (Johnson et al., 2019; McGee & Bentley, 2017) and few studies that identify the pedagogical practices that Black women bring to secondary science education (Despenza, 2018; McMath, 2015). Thus, it is imperative that we identify which conditions encourage Black girls to use and enjoy science so that they can one day teach science if they choose. An intersectional feminist methodology encompasses the theoretical contributions of Black feminist scholarship, which has led to the development of a methodological approach that begins “with the experiences of groups that occupy multiple social locations and find approaches and ideas that focus on the complexity rather than the singularity of human experience” (Dill & Zambrana, 2009, p. 2). An intersectional feminist methodology pays attention to “the different and sometimes contradictory or unexpected ways in which race, gender, social class, national origin, marital status, employment and other social categories manifest themselves in narratives of lived experience” (Hamilton, 2019, p. 3).
Methods, Data, and Results
This study honors and gives voice to the complex experiences of the participants as they navigate being ‘outsiders within’ (Collins, 2000) historically marginalized science spaces, both as young Black girls and women. By exploring their experiences, this study sought to determine how veteran BWSTs (more than 14 years of experience) have used their K-12 experiences in science spaces to influence their current pedagogical practices. Pre-interview surveys and one-on-one virtual interviews were used in this narrative study. Restorying is used to analyze key elements of the various stories told by participants and then rewriting the story in chronological order (Ollerenshaw & Creswell, 2002). This study addresses the following research question:
How do BWSTs describe their early childhood experiences?
All of the participants identify family support and informal science experiences as spaces where they were able to explore nature and science. Their science classrooms are heavily impacted by their past experiences, encouraging culturally relevant science practices that make science accessible, joyful and relevant to all their students.

Author

• Alexis Riley, Teachers College, Columbia University,