This Type of Teaching Moves Beyond Academic Achievement on Tests as the Only Measure of a Good Science Education and Student Achievement
Research at Alder Research Informing Our Work Home This Type of Teaching Moves Beyond Academic Achievement on Tests as the Only Measure of a Good Science Education and Student Achievement In this article, Dr. Steele and a colleague from Ohio State University explore a residency program, and in particular, a secondary science methods course in which pre-service teachers engaged in a social justice project exploring social justice science issues to illustrate preservice teachers’ conceptualizations of justice-centered science teaching and learning. The shift to a justice-centered approach is timely and appropriate as we recognize science content, teaching, and teacher preparation as political acts. However, accepting the political nature of science as well as that of science teaching has proven to be a hard shift for many in the science community. In this paper, we suggest a shift away from an apolitical teaching of science toward a system of practices that transforms the purposes of science education through a justice-centered science pedagogy approach. For science teachers to engage their students in this type of transformative teaching and learning, we argue that the science teachers themselves need to be immersed in conditions under which their learning experiences foregrounds the transformative power of justice centered science pedagogy. The full article can be accessed here: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/E8EPI2BVQSPU5QZJHZTF/full?target=10.1080/1046560X.2023.2202453
Transforming Communities: Re-Imagining the Possibilities Through Equitable Science Teaching
Research at Alder Research Informing Our Work Home Transforming Communities: Re-Imagining the Possibilities Through Equitable Science Teaching Dr. Steele and colleagues from Ohio State University and University of Minnesota recently co-edited a special issue for JSTE where they explored what it means to engage in transformative science teaching and why transformative teaching be a cornerstone of science education? For us, transformation is about transformation of beliefs, values, attitudes, ways of knowing and learning, and behaviors that lead to a desire, willingness, and capacity to take actions for social justice and change. This Special Issue explores empirical projects that recognize science as a tool that promotes transformational shifts toward a more just and equitable society. Collectively, these papers explore pedagogical decisions across P-16 science education where knowledges and practices of science are used to critically examine and question unjust policies and normalized practices that have negatively impacted teachers, students, and their communities. Specifically, these papers examine practices that science teacher educators and science teachers are engaged in that foster transformative science teaching and learning. The contributions to the Special Issue are diverse linguistically, geographically, theoretically, and methodologically. Each paper draws from diverse theoretical frameworks, such as deliberative democracy (e.g., Gutmann & Thompson, Citation2004), liberation social psychology (Martín-Baró, Citation1996), culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, Citation2014), justice-centered science pedagogy (Morales‐Doyle, Citation2017), posthuman concepts (St. Pierre, Citation2016), and learning as becomings (Barad, Citation2007). Similarly, the contributors drew from multiple methodological traditions to explore science teacher and science teacher education such as qualitative study, case study (e.g., constructivist case study and narrative case study), conjecture mapping coupled with diffractive methodology. The full editorial can be found here: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/HWD8FF7N2JYQCU54T3CC/full?target=10.1080/1046560X.2023.2214451
Addressing the silent participant: A journey toward equity of voice in the high school classroom
Research at Alder Research Informing Our Work Home Addressing the silent participant: A journey toward equity of voice in the high school classroom Victoria Daniel, an alum from Alder’s Master’s Pathway program, wrote a piece in the Journal of Teacher Action Research in April 2023. Abstract: Differences in culture, confidence, knowledge, and values are just some of the myriad factors accounting for students’ willingness or reluctance to include their voice in classroom conversations. But for too long, too many voices have been silenced by other forces or simply forgotten. Working on the theory that student voice–defined here as student speaking on classroom content with attention focused on them–is crucial to establishing equity in a classroom, this project followed an action-research process with the principle being the classroom should not be a place where . Thus, this action research project set out to see if targeted intervention strategies would increase the oral participation rates of seven silent participants. “Silent” students were identified as those who, over a period of four months of observation, never raised their hands to participate in class discussions and would rarely or never speak during small group discussions. Students engaged in goal setting, tallying, and reflection over the course of three weeks. In addition, surveys and observations provided rich sources of both quantitative and descriptive data, the results of which showed strong support for these methods as means of increasing participation. The project also revealed larger implications for teaching practice including the importance of reflection, small group collaboration, and the addressing of students’ fear of being wrong. The full piece can be found here: Daniel, V. (2023). Addressing the silent participant: A journey toward equity of voice in the high school classroom. Journal of Teacher Action Research, 10(1), 1-19. https://teacheractionresearch.com/index.php/JTAR/article/view/68
Turning to dialogic reflexivity: An approach to fostering transdisciplinary research
Research at Alder Research Informing Our Work Home Turning to dialogic reflexivity: An approach to fostering transdisciplinary research Dr. David Steele and colleagues from IUPUI and Pennsylvania State University recently presented during a related paper set about outcomes related to a transdisciplinary research professional development workshop at the American Education Research Association International Conference. The conference was held in Chicago, IL from April 12 – April 16. In their presentation, Dr. Steele and colleagues: Consider the need for transdisciplinary research, its potential, and challenges in accomplishing it. We describe the core conceptual framework of dialogic reflexivity as an approach to cultivating transdisciplinarity, and present how these ideas informed the design and activities of a transdisciplinary research workshop. This will be delivered by designers of the workshops, who will also describe the structure and activities of the workshop itself. In addition to articulating theory and practice, this presentation frames the larger symposium, providing a base framework for the three presentations to follow, in which workshop participants share their theoretically guided reflections on workshop participation. The presentation is linked here and the AERA paper is linked here.
