Advancing, Supporting, and Sustaining Equity among Elementary Teachers of Science

There is an urgent need to expand antiracist and justice-oriented teaching that incorporates cultural and linguistic resources of learners in science classrooms. This project aims to move this orientation beyond multicultural or foundation courses in teacher education, to effectively address issues of (in)equity within education. This project focuses on science teaching at the elementary level. Science is a common challenge among elementary teachers, and it is frequently, and mistakenly, seen as "neutral." To address these needs, this project will develop and iteratively refine a practical framework and a suite of teacher education materials that support early career teachers--from preservice teacher education through their third year of classroom teaching--in teaching that recognizes and nurtures the scientific knowledge and practices of children and supports meaningful participation of historically marginalized children in science. Research within the project will work to explain connections among the framework and materials and their potential effects, longitudinally, on early career teachers' ideas, plans, and teaching practice, within their school and district contexts. Thus, the overarching aim of the project is to develop and research a practical framework to orient teacher education toward the preparation of well-started beginners capable of advancing racial, economic, and social justice within elementary science. The four-year longitudinal project will use design-based research methods, drawing on mixed complementary methods and situated within (and after) an elementary teacher education program. Across three design cycles, the project will involve four cohorts of preservice elementary teachers, following them into their early years of classroom teaching. Drawing on data sources such as interviews, reflections, lesson plan analyses, video records of classroom enactments, and surveys, the project will answer research questions about participants' ideas about, planning for, and enactment of elementary science teaching that advances equitable practices. There has been limited research focused on tools to support justice-oriented work in elementary science, and even less that is longitudinal in nature. Thus, the project addresses crucial gaps in the literature. Beyond these contributions to better understanding teacher learning and development in this important arena, this project will enhance children's participation in science by helping early career teachers connect to their students' ideas, interests, identities, and family, cultural, and linguistic resources. In addition, the project's framework and teacher education materials will be made freely available to other teacher educators, allowing the materials to be useful across multiple contexts. The project will also provide professional learning experiences to build educator capacity locally and beyond. This project is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) that seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models, and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.