Culturally Responsive Science Education and Teaching: Current Literature, Preservice Elementary Science Teachers and Lesson Planning

First, a meta-analysis of Culturally Responsive (CR) science teaching characteristics and practices was conducted. Findings revealed that there are a limited number of CR teaching studies at the elementary science level. When studies conducted at the middle, secondary and postsecondary level were included, six themes which encompassed the characteristics and pedagogical practices of effective CR science teachers and teacher development emerged. These themes were academics, cultural competency, social inequities, CR learning environment, rejection of the deficit lens and pedagogical strategies. Next, the impact of curriculum and practices designed to reflect these six themes on preservice elementary science teachers was explored. I used the six themes to build and implement the science methods course for preservice elementary teachers. Findings revealed that although the preservice elementary teachers acknowledged all six themes, full implementation within the field may require the methods course to be closely aligned with the field experience. This study also provided insight into the preservice elementary science teachers’ discomfort with the science content as an obstacle and the limitations of class discussions to drive change within practices. When the findings in the meta-analysis and preservice science methods course were combined, Chapter 4 was written to provide practicing elementary science teachers with a procedural guide to create and implement CR science lessons in their classrooms. The chapter included an explanation of each step along with an example and resources. A sample sixth-grade science lesson plan, which demonstrated the use of current events as the connection to the science content, was also included

Parent involvement and student academic motivation towards science in 9th grade

Parents’ beliefs and behavior act as both explicit and implicit ways of communicating the value of science and their confidence that their child can be successful in science-related classes. Using the NCES High School Longitudinal Survey (HSLS:09), we examined how parent beliefs and behaviors regarding their 9th grader’s science education predicted the students’ motivation in science. Using multiple regression indicates that the combination of parental education, beliefs, and involvement in science-related activities with their child are weak but significant predictors of students’ academic motivation in science (adjR 2  = 0.04, F(6, 14,933) = 26.32, P < 0.001). In particular, parent education and parent involvement have positive and significant effects on students’ science identity and science self-efficacy. These findings suggest that students may have a stronger academic motivation in science with parents who have higher levels of education, more confidence in their ability to help their child in science, and who engage in more science activities with their child

Culturally responsive elementary science teaching: A meta-analysis of current science teaching studies and implications

Abstract This study utilizes the meta-analysis method described by Timulak (2009) to create a more cohesive understanding of culturally responsive (CR) science teaching. This phenomenon is explored by defining the characteristics of CR teaching from the extant literature and comparing those characteristics to current CR science teaching studies with a focus on the elementary level. Six themes emerge from the selected studies, representing both the extant literature and the current CR science teaching studies. As this study demonstrates, additional themes of CR science teaching are not represented in the extant literature. Additionally, no one study addresses all six themes. This paper will make the argument to include these six themes in future studies, which will result in more cohesive findings and lead to evidence-based strategies for implementing CR teaching in elementary preservice teacher settings.</jats:p