A Conceptual Infrastructure for Culturally Sustaining Science Practices in the Rio Grande Valley, Aztlán: Creating Agentes de Cambio

• In Event: Critical Pedagogies of Place in Aztlán, Gran México

Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of this essay is to challenge the standardized hegemonic science curriculum that excludes Chicanxs cultural representation by countering conceptual infrastructure in preliminary development. Quinquepartite Curricular Model (QCM) model empowers Chicana preservice teachers in our region by utilizing the underpinnings of social justice to articulate culturally sustainable practices relevant to Chicana preservice teachers in our region.

Perspective(s) Theoretical framework

Our decolonial framework stems from the critical dialogues of Anzulda’s (1987) borderland epistemology and Sousa Santos( 2007) notions of pluriversal ecology of science knowledges. Although we note a salient shift toward an understanding of an ecology of knowledges, there are still devaluations and decontextualization of indigenous knowledges in our region. We attempt to open the door to recognizing community knowledges of our region (Freire, 1970) as knowers and doers of culturally sustaining science practices.

Methods, Techniques, or Modes of Inquiry

The pedagogical essay provides our research method for this piece. The pedagogical essay includes: our positionalities, notes, Author 1’s ongoing research, experiences teaching, and conceptual-empirical readings along with the collective teaching and learning experiences of the authors who are committed to preservice teachers, their students, and the development of sustainable science practices in our region. Our method is one of reading and analying within the contexts of our practice

Findings

The QCM addresses culturally sustaining science practices related to science curriculum in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), Aztlán. QCM presents a synthesis of frameworks that draw on 1. Rawlsian social justice (Rawls,1971) 2. Chicana feminist epistemologies (Delgado Bernal, 1998) 3. land-based education (Calderon, 2014) 4. critical place-based education (Gruenwald 2003b) 5. pluralism & cultural sustainability ( Sousa Santos, 2007). Furthermore, the nexus of the QCM framework draws from Paulo Freire’s notion of conscientization (Freire,1970), which places our Chicana preservice teachers or our region as agentes de cambio.

Scholarly significance

The QCM framework challenges teachers to be more than facilitators of learning. QCM fosters a curricular structure that fosters agency where teachers are agents of change that provide equitable, culturally sustainable science practices can ameliorate the difference in achievement that may have otherwise impeded the quality of learning opportunities available to Chicanas.

References

Anzaldúa, G. (1987). Borderlands/La frontera: The new mestiza. San Francisco, CA: Aunt.

Bernal, D. D. (1998). Using a Chicana feminist epistemology in educational research. Harvard Educational Review, 68(4), 555–581.

Boaventura de Sousa Santos. (2007). Beyond abyssal thinking: From global lines to ecologies of knowledges. Review - Fernand Braudel Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems, and Civilizations, 30(1), 45–89.

Calderon, D. (2014). Speaking back to manifest destinies: a land-education based approach to critical curriculum inquiry. Environmental Education Research, 20 (1), 24-36.

Gruenwald, D. A. (2003a). The best of both worlds: A critical pedagogy of place. Educational Researcher, 32(4), 3-13.

Freire, P, (1970), Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum.

Mignolo, W. D., & Walsh, Catherine E. (2018). On decoloniality. Duke University Press.

Rawls, J. (1971). A theory of justice. Belknap Press/Harvard University Press.

Author

• Patricia Ramirez, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley