This book offers valuable guidance for science teacher educators
looking for ways to facilitate preservice and inservice teachers
pedagogy relative to teaching students from underrepresented and
underserved populations in the science classroom. It also provides
solutions that will better equip science teachers of
underrepresented student populations with effective strategies that
challenge the status quo, and foster classrooms environment that
promotes equity and social justice for all of their science
students.
"Multicultural Science Education" illuminates historically
persistent, yet unresolved issues in science teacher education from
the perspectives of a remarkable group of science teacher educators
and presents research that has been done to address these issues.
It centers on research findings on underserved and underrepresented
groups of students and presents frameworks, perspectives, and
paradigms that have implications for transforming science teacher
education. In addition, the chapters provide an analysis of the
socio-cultural-political consequences in the ways in which science
teacher education is theoretically conceptualized and
operationalized in the United States.
The book provides teacher educators with a framework for
teaching through a lens of equity and social justice, one that may
very well help teachers enhance the participation of students from
traditionally underrepresented and underserved groups in science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) areas and help them
realize their full potential in science. Moreover, science
educators will find this book useful for professional development
workshops and seminars for both novice and veteran science
teachers.
""Multicultural Science Education: Preparing Teachers for Equity
and Social Justice" directly addresses the essential role that
science teacher education plays for the future of an informed and
STEM knowledgeable citizenry. The editors and authors review the
beginnings of multicultural science education, and then highlight
findings from studies on issues of equity, underrepresentation,
cultural relevancy, English language learning, and social justice.
The most significant part of this book is the move to the policy
level providing specific recommendations for policy development,
implementation, assessment and analysis, with calls to action for
all science teacher educators, and very significantly, all middle
and high school science teachers and prospective teachers.
By emphasizing the important role that multicultural science
education has played in providing the knowledge base and
understanding of exemplary science education, "Multicultural
Science Education: Preparing Teachers for Equity and Social
Justice" gives the reader a scope and depth of the field, along
with examples of strategies to use with middle and high school
students. These classroom instructional strategies are based on
sound science and research. Readers are shown the balance between
research-based data driven models articulated with successful
instructional design. Science teacher educators will find this
volume of great value as they work with their pre-service and
in-service teachers about how to address and infuse multicultural
science education within their classrooms.For educators to be truly
effective in their classrooms, they must examine every component of
the learning and teaching process. Multicultural Science Education:
Preparing Teachers for Equity and Social Justice provides not only
the intellectual and research bases underlying multicultural
studies in science education, but also the pragmatic side. All
teachers and teacher educators can infuse these findings and
recommendations into their classrooms in a dynamic way, and
ultimately provide richer learning experiences for all
students."
Patricia Simmons, North Carolina State University, Raleigh,
USA
"This provocative collection of chapters is a presentation in
gutsiness. Ingenious in construction and sequencing, this book will
influence science teacher educators by introducing them to issues
of equity and social justice directly related to women and people
of color. The authors unflinchingly interrogate issues of equity
which need to be addressed in science education courses.
"This provocative collection of chapters is a presentation in
gutsiness. Ingenious in construction and sequencing, this book will
influence science teacher educators by introducing them to issues
of equity and social justice directly related to women and people
of color. The authors unflinchingly interrogate issues of equity
which need to be addressed in science education courses.
It begins with setting current cultural and equity issue within
a historic frame. The first chapter sets the scene by moving the
reader through 400 years in which African-American s were
scientifically excluded from science . This is followed by a
careful review of the Jim Crow era, an analysis of equity issues of
women and ends with an examination of sociocultural consciousness
and culturally responsive teaching.
Two chapters comprise the second section. Each chapter examines
the role of the science teacher in providing a safe place by
promoting equity and social justice in the classroom. The three
chapters in the third section focus on secondary science teachers.
Each addresses issues of preparation that provides new teachers
with understanding of equity and provokes questions of good
teaching.
Section four enhances and expands the first section as the
authors suggest cultural barriers the impact STEM engagement by
marginalized groups. The last section, composed of three chapters,
interrogates policy issues that influence the science
classroom."
Molly Weinburgh, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth,
USA"