Teaching Elementary School Science to Promote Equity for the LGBTQ+ Community (Poster 10)

• In Event: Equity in Elementary Science Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Problem. Discussion of issues related to the LGBTQ+ community are rarely included in conversations about equity in elementary schools (Ryan & Hermann-Wilmarth, 2019). This silence is profound in elementary science teaching and contributes to the marginalization of LGBTQ+ people (Author, 2019a, 2019b; Fifield & Letts, 2014).
Design. This theoretical paper uses queer theory (e.g., Fifield & Letts, 2014, McWilliams & Penuel, 2016; Sullivan, 2003) to expose and disrupt the ways that science teaching contributes to the normalization of the heterogendered binary (e.g., boy/girl, straight/gay) and to show how equity principles for K-5 education (Author, et al., 2019) can be applied to prevent and repair the damage that elementary school science can inflict on LGBTQ+ people.
Findings & Analysis. Principle 1: Developing critical consciousness. A critical consciousness for elementary science teaching recognizes how the over-emphasis on categorization (Author, 2009, 2019a) and under-exposure to the diversity of the natural world (Roughgarden, 2013) constructs heterogendered normativity and communicates that bodies, identities, and behaviors outside these norms are aberrant and deviant (Letts, 2001). Principle 2: Developing relationships to form inclusive communities. Elementary teachers often avoid embracing LGBTQ+ associations because of belief that the content is age-inappropriate (Sears, 1999) and fear of retaliation (Hermann-Wilmarth & Ryan, 2019). Developing open and affirming relationships with the LGBTQ+ people who are part of every elementary school community can disrupt the forces that make LGBTQ+ identities, bodies, and experiences invisible in elementary school science. Principle 3: Scaffolding for full participation in science. A queer analysis shows scientific practice is motivated by a desire to satisfy curiosity and bodily knowledge plays a vital role in the construction of scientific understandings (Britzman, 2000). Yet the prescriptive nature of elementary science curricula leaves little room for children to develop “a feeling for the organism” (Author, 2019a, 2019b). Science teaching that nurtures children’s visceral connections to phenomena inspires passion and fosters extra-normative insights into science. Principle 4: Critiquing, challenging, and changing school science. Equitable elementary science teaching for the LGBTQ+ community includes modifying curricula to disrupt a heterogendered construction of science knowledge; affirming the contribution of LGBTQ+ identities, bodies, and experiences to the scientific enterprise; and making visible the full diversity of the natural world.
Contribution/Significance. Little has been written about equity in science education for the LGBTQ+ community, yet silence only serves to perpetuate harm. This paper signals to the science education community that issues of LGBTQ+ equity and inclusion are relevant to elementary science teaching and elementary science teacher preparation.

Author

• Kristin L. Gunckel, University of Arizona