Incorporating Social Justice Into Science Teacher Education Courses

2020 ◽  
pp. 208-224
Author(s):  
Seema Rivera ◽  
Amal Ibourk
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Science Teacher ◽  
Instructional Strategies ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Science Teacher Education ◽  
Teaching For Social Justice ◽  
Education Courses

In this chapter, the authors cover the importance and challenges of incorporating teaching for social justice in science teacher education courses. The chapter starts by providing an overview of the literature on social justice, specifically in science education, and define the terms social justice, equity, and diversity. Then, the authors, who are teacher educators from under-represented groups, share their own experiences about what led them to do social justice work. In addition, the authors present examples from their courses with their preservice teachers and instructional strategies they used. The chapter concludes with recommendations of ways in which we might consider implementing social justice practices in teacher preparation courses.

Whiteness as Property in Science Teacher Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Felicia Moore Mensah ◽  
Iesha Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Science Teacher ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Elementary Science ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Science Teacher Education ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Teachers Of Color ◽  
Science Teacher Educators

Background/Context The disparity between the race and ethnicity of teachers and students is expected to increase as our nation and classrooms continue to become more racially, ethnically, linguistically, and economically diverse. It is extremely important to think about not only the educational needs of such a diverse student population within schools but also who will teach these students. However, when looking at subject-matter specificity for the retention of Teachers of Color, such as science teachers, the picture becomes extremely serious when we understand teachers’ paths into and out of science and teaching. Purpose The purpose of the study is to analyze the experiences of preservice Teachers of Color (PTOC) enrolled in an elementary science methods course as they gain access to science as White property. Our analysis provides evidence that PTOC can break the perpetual cycle of alienation, exclusion, and inequity in science when they are given opportunities to engage in science as learners and teachers. In addition, we also offer insights regarding the role science teacher educators may play in preparing teachers and especially TOC for urban schools. Setting/Research Design The context of this study was a graduate-level preservice elementary science methods course at a large urban university in New York City. Multiple data sources included pre-post surveys, semester observation journals, final course papers, and a post-course questionnaire. Utilizing constructivist grounded during the initial phase of analysis and themes from critical race theory (CRT), our unique voices of color and positionalities allowed us to interpret the data from a CRT perspective and arrive at findings relevant to making science inclusive to PTOC. Conclusions/Recommendations In order to push the field of science teacher education toward social justice issues of access, opportunity, and enjoyment, efforts must focus on increasing representation of Teachers of Color in science education. The transformation of science teacher education to grant equitable learning experiences for Teachers of Color is needed. Further research on the experiences of science Teachers of Color, as well as Faculty of Color and their relationship with students, is highly encouraged. Both teacher preparation and science education must be open to interrogate and reveal structural forms of race, racism, and power that manifest through curriculum, structure, and pedagogy that cause alienation and exclusion for Teachers of Color. Therefore, we encourage science teacher educators to examine their own course curriculum, structure, and pedagogy through self-study and refection. Overall practices in teacher preparation must empower rather than impede progress toward important goals of CRT, and this may be achieved through building stronger relationships with PTOC and Faculty of Color across teacher preparation courses in support of these goals.

Beyond Damage-Centered Teacher Education: Humanizing Pedagogy for Teacher Educators and Preservice Teachers

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Dorinda J. Carter Andrews ◽  
Tashal Brown ◽  
Bernadette M. Castillo ◽  
Davena Jackson ◽  
Vivek Vellanki
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Humanizing Pedagogy

Background/Context In our best efforts to increase preservice teachers’ critical consciousness regarding the historical and contemporary inequities in the P–12 educational system and equip them to embody pedagogies and practices that counter those inequities, teacher educators often provide curricular and field experiences that reinforce the deficit mindsets that students bring to the teacher education classroom. For many social justice-oriented teacher educators, our best intentions to create humanizing experiences for future teachers can have harmful results that negatively impact preservice teachers’ ability to successfully teach culturally diverse students in a multitude of learning contexts. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study In this article, we propose a humanizing pedagogy for teacher education that is informed by our experiences as K–12 teachers and teacher educators in a university-based teacher preparation program. We focus on the general questions, How can university-based teacher preparation programs embody and enact a humanizing pedagogy? and What role can curriculum play in advancing a humanizing pedagogy in university-based teacher preparation programs? Research Design In this conceptual article, we theorize a humanizing pedagogy for teacher education and propose a process of becoming asset-, equity-, and social justice-oriented teachers. This humanizing pedagogy represents a strengths-based approach to teaching and learning in the teacher preparation classroom. Conclusions/Recommendations We propose core tenets of a humanizing pedagogy for teacher education that represent an individual and collective effort toward critical consciousness for preservice teachers and also for teacher educators. If university-based teacher education programs are committed to cultivating the development of asset-, equity-, and social justice-oriented preservice teachers, the commitments to critical self-reflection, resisting binaries, and enacting ontological and epistemological plurality need to be foundational to program structure, curricula alignment, and instructional practice.

Educating Teachers for High-Poverty Schools

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Burnett ◽  
Jo Lampert
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
High Poverty ◽  
High Poverty Schools ◽  
Educational Disadvantage ◽  
Agents Of Change ◽  
High Poverty Students

A great deal of scholarship informs the idea that specific teacher preparation is required for working in high-poverty schools. Many teacher-education programs do not focus exclusively on poverty. However, a growing body of research emphasizes how crucial it is that teachers understand the backgrounds and communities in which young people and their families live, especially if they are to teach equitably, without bias, and with a critical understanding of historical educational disadvantage. Research on teacher education for high-poverty schools is largely associated with social-justice education and premised on two key assumptions. The first is that teachers do make a difference and should be encouraged to see themselves as agents of change. The second is that without nuanced knowledge of poverty and disadvantage, and especially its intersection with race, teachers are prepared as though all students and all communities have equal social advantage. Through targeted teacher education, social justice teachers aquire the knowledge, skills and attributes to understand what they can and cannot do. Teachers with strong communities of practice and agency can resist the idea that they can eradicate poverty on their own, but can enact teaching in ways that are equitable and respectful, culturally responsive and safe. It is increasingly possible to observe how debates propose or challenge how preservice teachers should learn about high-poverty contexts. There are also numerous models, globally, of what works in preparing teachers for high-poverty schools; however, providing evidence or proving how specialized teacher preparation affects the educational outcomes of high-poverty students is difficult.

Teacher Education and Inclusivity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah L. Alvarado ◽  
Sarah M. Salinas ◽  
Alfredo J. Artiles
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Learning Differences ◽  
Access To Books ◽  
Formative Experiences

Inclusive teacher education (ITE) defines the professional training of preservice teachers to work in learning spaces encompassing students from all circumstances, regardless of race, linguistic background, gender, socioeconomic status, and special education needs (SEN). This preparation includes the content, pedagogy, and formative experiences required for teachers to work in inclusive schools. To fully understand ITE, it is necessary to examine what is meant by inclusive education (IE). Indeed, it is essential to explore ITE’s definition since scholars and teacher educators have struggled to agree on what is meant by IE. In addition to disagreements about IE’s definition, support for this idea and its implementation may vary due to the cultural, historical, and political differences specific to local contexts. For these reasons, it is necessary to recognize the inclusive policies, practices, and processes that often shape definitions and concepts related to ITE. Notwithstanding the ambitious meanings of ITE across the globe, researchers, professionals, and policymakers tend to emphasize a vision of teacher preparation for working with students with disabilities (SWD) or SEN. Also, there is no consensus about which particular aspects matter in teacher education programs, primarily based on ideological differences about the core goals of IE. These differences in views and beliefs have resulted in limited understandings and applications of ITE. For instance, a student with an SEN may also come from a family living in poverty, with no access to books in the home, or speak multiple languages, including languages that are not a part of their first (formal) educational experiences. In such circumstances, there is no agreement about whether ITE programs should focus on students’ linguistic, socioeconomic, learning differences, or multiple factors. We review the research on ITE in various national contexts. We also discuss how scholars have conceptualized the preparation of future teachers and the implications for greater clarity on how teacher preparation can improve IE in an increasingly diverse society.

Exploring Access, Intersectionality, and Privilege in Undergraduate Music Education Courses

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-37
Author(s):  
Samuel Escalante
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Teachers Beliefs ◽  
Basic Qualitative Study ◽  
Education Courses

Music teacher educators often work to prepare preservice music teachers to be socially conscious and adopt dispositions toward teaching in socially just ways. Preservice teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and dispositions toward social justice issues may not be sufficiently challenged, however, unless coursework is appropriately conceived. I designed a three-part workshop to introduce and explore the concepts of access, intersectionality, and privilege, and then conducted a basic qualitative study to examine undergraduate music education students’ understandings of and attitudes toward sensitive social justice issues, as well as their experiences with the workshop. I found that exploring sociological concepts related to social justice through interactive activities and allowing students safe methods for expressing themselves, such as journaling, may facilitate the adoption of positive dispositions among preservice teachers toward toward social justice issues.

scholarly journals Investigating the effect of STEM based laboratory activities on preservice science teacher’s STEM awarenessSTEM temelli laboratuvar etkinliklerinin fen bilgisi öğretmen adaylarının STEM farkındalıklarına etkisinin incelenmesi

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 4275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seda Gökbayrak ◽  
Dilek Karışan
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Science Teacher ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Science Teacher Education ◽  
Laboratory Instruction ◽  
Science Laboratory ◽  
Laboratory Activities ◽  
Teacher Education Department

The rapid changes in science and technology have changed the traditional education concept by improving the accessibility of information. Current educational understandings require the application of flexible programs that respond to differences in the interests and abilities of the students and that can go into diversity within themselves. One of these approaches is the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) approach. This study  aims to explore the effect of  STEM based laboratory activities on preservice teachers STEM awareness. The study was conducted in science laboratory practices-I course, which is included in the undergraduate science teacher education program. Quasi-experimental research  method was used to investigate the study. Participants were consist of 50 third grade preservice science teachers from Yüzüncü Yıl University Science Teacher Education Department who take the Laboratory Instruction of Science Instruction-I course. FeTeMM awareness scale developed by Buyruk and Korkmaz (2014) was used as data collection tool. Based on the results of the dependent sample t-test scores, STEM-based science laboratory applications increased  the experimental group students' awareness of STEM.Extended English abstract is in the end of Full Text PDF (TURKISH) file. ÖzetBilim ve teknolojideki hızlı değişimler bilgiye ulaşım olanaklarını geliştirerek geleneksel eğitim anlayışını değiştirmiştir. Güncel eğitim anlayışları, öğrencilerin gözlenen ilgi ve yetenekleri doğrultusunda farklılıklara cevap veren ve kendi içinde çeşitliliğe gidebilen esnek programların uygulanmasını gerektirmektedir. Bu anlayışlardan biri olan STEM yaklaşımı ön plana çıkmaktadır. Araştırmada Fen bilgisi öğretmenliği lisans programında yer alan Fen Öğretimi Laboratuvar Uygulamaları-I dersinin STEM temelli etkinlikler ile yürütülmesi sürecinin öğretmen adaylarının STEM farkındalık düzeylerine etkisini ortaya çıkarmak amaçlanmaktadır. Bu amaçla nicel araştırma yöntemlerinden öntest-sontest eşitlenmemiş kontrol gruplu yarı deneysel desen kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın örneklemi Van Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Fen Bilgisi Öğretmenliği Anabilim Dalı Fen Öğretimi Laboratuvar Uygulamaları-I dersini alan üçüncü sınıf 50 katılımcıdan oluşturmaktadır. Veri toplama aracı olarak Buyruk ve Korkmaz (2014) tarafından geliştirilen STEM farkındalık ölçeği kullanılmıştır. STEM temelli fen laboratuvarı uygulamaları sonrasında deney grubu öğrencilerinin STEM’ e yönelik farkındalık durumları ön test ve son test puanları arasındaki farkın anlamlılığına ilişkin bağımlı örneklem t testi sonuçlarına göre STEM temelli fen laboratuvarı uygulamalarının öğretmen adaylarının STEM farkındalıklarını artırmada anlamlı bir fark oluşturduğu görülmüştür.

scholarly journals Foregrounding Intersectionality in Considerations of Diversity: Confronting Discrimination in Science Teacher Education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia E. Carol-Ann Burke
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Science Teacher ◽  
Critical Incident ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Science Teacher Education ◽  
School Science ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Support Teacher ◽  
Science Teacher Educators

AbstractThis paper contributes to a small but significant body of research addressing issues of prejudice in science education. It is written in the form of a critical incident analysis that uses the framework of intersectionality to examine deficit ideologies and biases inherent in science as a body of knowledge as well as science teacher education. If left unchecked, these prejudices can filter through into school science education, reinforcing the stereotypes of who can contribute to the field of science. The paper makes a call for science teacher educators to support teacher candidates as they move past an academic understanding of diversity in science education to examine their personal dispositions. Suggestions are made for approaches that can be adopted to facilitate the forms of deconstruction necessary for progress to be made in this area.

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