Instruction in Nature of Science as a Multicultural Approach

Being explicit about science: Instruction in the nature of science as a multicultural approach

A paper presented at the National Association of Research in Science Teaching Conference, Garden Grove, CA, April 17-20, 2009

Xenia Meyer and Barbara Crawford, Cornell University

Problem• Gaps in science outcomes among racial/ethnic

and socioeconomic groups (Lee & Luykx, 2006)▫ achievement ▫ attitudes toward science▫ enrollment in high school courses▫ earning college and graduate degrees▫ entrance into science occupations

• Science education is not reaching students from backgrounds underrepresented in the sciences (Latino, Black, Native American, Pacific Islander student groups, and women).

Core question:

•How do we modify approaches in science instruction to better reach students from underrepresented backgrounds?▫Inquiry▫Instructional Congruency▫Explicit Instruction in Nature of Science

Science as inquiry…

• Engaging in scientifically oriented questions • Giving priority to evidence in responding to questions • Formulating explanations from evidence• Connecting explanations to scientific knowledge• Communicating and justifying findings

(National Research Council [NRC], 2000, p. 29)

Inquiry as an instructional approach… • Entails shifting from learning about science to

learning science by engaging students in scientific activity (National Research Council [NRC], 1996; 2000)

• May increase accessibility and relevancy of science through participation in activity, context, and culture of science (Dewey, 1916; Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989; Rogoff, 1994)

• Repositions teacher-centered focus to student-centered focus (Crawford, 2000)

Benefits of Inquiry-based Approaches for Diverse Students•Allows for students to build on prior knowledge

•Amaral, Garrison, and Klentschy (2001) suggest:▫Opportunities for language development▫Time to build context▫Builds common experiences▫Builds thinking skills▫Cooperative learning▫ Increases classroom comfort▫Creates positive attitudes towards learning

Science is more than content-matter…

•Science is a cultural way of knowing (Brickhouse & Stanley,1994)

•Science learning through inquiry includes “enculturation” into scientific ways of knowing (Driver, Asoko, Leach, Mortimer, & Scott, 1994)

Sociocultural Perspectives on Science Learning

•School science is aligned with Western modern science (Cobern, 1993; Lipka et al., 1998)

•Science learning may challenge students’ cultural and everyday ways of knowing. ▫Culturally accepted norms in inquiry may be

challenging (Lee, 2003)▫These challenges constitute borders and

boundaries (Ogawa, 1995; Aikenhead, 1996; Jegede & Aikenhead, 1999)

A need to consider:

•How students negotiate cultural differences in school science learning

•How to bolster inquiry with instructional approaches to support diverse student groups in learning science

•The potential for extending multicultural education strategies to benefit students in science learning

Multicultural Approaches

•Student-centered instruction•Culturally-congruent examples•Linguistic scaffolding•Language learning support•Explicit instruction about difference

Instructional Congruency Features

• Sharing of scientific authority▫Student-centered approach; assumed by

inquiry• Linguistic scaffolding

▫Increases accessibility of content-matter• Use of everyday language in the classroom

▫Increases accessibility of content-matter• Use of diverse cultural experiences and

materials▫Draws on students’ everyday lives and life-

worlds(Luykx & Lee, 2007)

Facilitating boundary and border crossings into science•Teacher as a “cultural broker” (Aikenhead,

1996)

• Instructional congruency▫Student-centered▫Linguistic support ▫Connecting science to students’ everyday lives

•Explicit instruction in NOS (Lederman, 2004)▫Frames science within its cultural assumptions

Explicit instruction in Nature of Science• Scientific knowledge is tentative

▫ subject to change• Empirically-based

▫ based on and/or derived at least partially from observations of the natural world

• Subjective ▫ theory-laden, involves individual or group interpretation

• Necessarily involves human inference, imagination, and creativity ▫ involves the invention of explanations

• Is socially and culturally embedded ▫ influenced by the society/culture in which science is

practiced

Overlap in inquiry, instructional congruency and explicit instruction in NOS

 Inquiry

Instructional Congruency Nature of Science

•engage in scientifically oriented questions

•a sharing of scientific authority •tentative (subject to change)

•give priority to evidence in responding to questions

•the use of linguistic scaffolding to enhance meaning

•empirically-based (based on and/or derived at least partially from observations of the natural world)

• formulate explanations from evidence

• •the use of students’ home languages in classrooms

•subjective (theory-laden, involves individual or group interpretation)

•connect explanations to scientific knowledge

•a diversity of cultural experiences and materials

•necessarily involves human inference, imagination, and creativity (involves the invention of explanations)

•communicate and justifies findings • is socially and culturally embedded (influenced by the society/culture in which science is practiced)

Scientific knowledge is tentative•Explicitness about scientific knowledge being subject to change may:▫Facilitate student understanding of the

scientific process of knowledge production

▫Offset views of science as a fixed “truth” to accept

▫Create space for students to negotiate understandings of science as an evolving field in which its participants have agency

Scientific Knowledge is Empirically-based

•Explicitness about science being based on and/or derived at least partially from observations of the natural world may:▫Ground scientific knowledge in everyday

life situations for students▫Provide space for students as active

participants observing and making sense of the world around them; agency

Scientific Knowledge is Subjective •Explicitness about science being theory-laden, involves individual or group interpretation may:▫Demystify power-relations in scientific

knowledge construction

▫Open the space for negotiating/accepting alternative understandings

Science involves human inference, imagination, and creativity •Explicitness about science involving the invention of explanations may:▫Foster the participation of diverse

student groups

▫Boost student agency in making sense of science and the natural world as they attempt to make their own explanations

Scientific knowledge is socially and culturally embedded

•Explicitness about science being socially and culturally embedded may:▫Frame science as a cultural way of knowing

with its own language, processes, and customs

▫Bolster student agency to participate in science

▫Demystify how science is constructed

Instructionally congruent inquiry-based instruction combined with explicit guidance in NOS

Conclusions• Supporting students in making linguistic and

cultural boundary and border-crossings in science learning includes:▫ Recognizing science as a cultural way of knowing▫ Adopting instructionally congruent learning strategies▫ Deconstructing science through explicit instruction in

NOS

• Further investigation is needed to:▫ Understand how inquiry, instructional congruency, and

explicit instruction in NOS together may afford underrepresented and ELL student groups greater connections to science learning

Xenia [email protected]

Barbara [email protected]

This paper can be found at:www.fossilfinders.org/about/published.php