Utilizing Student Reflections to Rethink and Assess (W)Holistic Science Teaching

• In Event: Reimagining Classroom Assessment System for Creating Equitable Opportunities to Learn

Abstract

Purpose. This paper aims to illustrate the ways in which teachers can enact (w)holistic assessment practices through the utilization of reflexive student interviews.

Perspective(s). Patterson and Williams’ (2019) (W)holistic Science Pedagogy anchors this study. Developed for teachers pursuing science instruction rooted in equity and social justice, WSP “promotes strategies that ground students’ emerging content knowledge in critical awareness about the structures and institutions that have created and maintained society’s racial, gendered, and economic hierarchies” (p. 3). As such, this framework requires teachers to deeply understand how students experience science curricula in connection to the relationship between theory (equity) and practice (action-oriented change within the community). WSP-oriented teachers agree to uphold five commitments: “1) an ever-developing self-awareness, 2) to science and its practices, 3) to science as a transformative agent, 4) to their students’ social emotional wellness, and 5) [to] restorative practices” (p.3). This transformative justice approach (Mutegi, 2011; Winn, 2018) requires teachers to rethink contemporary notions of scientific literacy. Thus, this paper posits such rethinking can occur through assessing students’ scientific understandings by conducting reflexive student interviews that allow for the true “transcend[ence] of subject matter and perceived disciplinary boundaries” (Patterson & Williams, 2019 p. 6).

Methods. The study utilizes critical ethnography (Madison, 2012) to understand how fifth grade students of color reconcile their multiple identities (as a scientist, a student of color, and a learner) within an urban classroom. Students were interviewed several times to understand how they narrated their positions with respect to the intersectional nature of these identities (e.g., understanding the role of one’s racial identity on their identity as a scientist and student). Video clips of the students’ practiced identities were then selected, with subsequent interviews exploring the nuanced manifestations of the narrated identities in the classroom. The interviews included a student-guided analysis of their scientific understandings, which is the focus of this paper.

Data sources consisted of a series of student and teacher interviews, classroom video, and content analysis of teaching and learning artifacts.

Findings. Findings from the analysis of student work and interviews, respectively, indicated that although students’ science notebook writings indicated mastery of the standards, they discounted this mastery in favor of adopting a notion of compliance. In other words, students considered themselves knowledgeable only if they followed the teacher’s rules. When confronted with these claims, the teacher noted that this was “disappointing” because they wanted their students to view themselves as knowledgeable because of their ideas rather than their compliance. Here, a critical moment of reflection emerged for the teacher, as it ignited their commitment to an “ever-developing self-awareness,” along with the need for embracing the other commitments of WSP to fully practice equitable science teaching.

Scholarly significance of the study. These findings can greatly impact how we assess student learning, particularly while centering equity within our instructional practices. This work is transferable across disciplines, allowing elementary teachers to truly engage in the process of “cultivating equitable education systems for the 21st century.”

Author

• Terrance Burgess, Michigan State University