Culturally Responsive Teaching
Impact After School Conference
April 25, 2014
by
Christopher Soldat, Science Curriculum Consultant, Van Allen
Science Teaching Center, Grant Wood AEA
and
Peggy J. Christensen, Science Curriculum Consultant, Heartland
AEA 11
The PAGE Framework for Access and Equity in STEM Education
Reconstructing the Nature
And Culture of STEM
Curriculum
and
Pedag
ogy
Disparities
and
Inequitie
s
Lens
Module
Documenting Disparities
Examples and Rationale
Synthesize current data to develop an understanding of achievement disparities and pipeline issues by
gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (MMEP, 2012).
Beliefs & High Expectations
Consider various unexamined beliefs regarding teaching and learning, and examine the role of high expectations in
student achievement (Landsman & Lewis, 2006).
Designing Equitable
Classrooms
Analyze vignettes of classroom situations to explore issues of equity and access and tie them to specific
equitable classroom strategies (Chatman et al., 2008).
Culturally
Pedagogy
Contrast assimilationist and culturally relevant teaching, generate images of what each might look like in STEM
classrooms, and explore possible consequences for students and teachers (Ladson-Billings, 2006b).
Relevant
Complex Instruction (CI)
Investigate the power of groupwork and procedural roles to minimize status issues and to promote maximum
physical and intellectual engagement of all learners (Cohen, 1994).
Curriculum Deconstruction
Recognize curriculum as a cultural artifact, and practice deconstructing and reconstructing STEM curricular
materials through reflective processes (Gutstein, 2006).
What is STEM?
Recast the disciplines of STEM from discreet bodies of knowledge and processes to culturally mediated ways
of coming to know the world.
Identity
•Implement CI strategies into STEM classroom settings.
•Analyze status issues within building and district staff structures.
•Engage students in the deconstruction and reconstruction of
knowledge presented in STEM curricula.
•Analyze and deconstruct curricular materials in the process of a
STEM curriculum adoption.
STEM Case Studies
•Explicitly broaden conceptions of STEM and who does it with both
colleagues and students.
•Recognize the role of culture and society in STEM, integrate it into
STEM curricula, and encourage students to investigate the social
Understand the ways in which STEM is embedded in a Euro- American worldview that often marginalizes other
implications of STEM knowledge.
views of the natural world, and explore the impact of traditional portrayals of STEM on learners with a variety of
identities. (I Know the Moon, Anderson, 2001; The Story of the Bean, Brayboy & Maughan, 2009; The Essence of the •Work to deconstruct and deepen understanding of A Framework for K–
12 Science Education, and other standards documents.
Leech)
Deconstructing STEM
Standards
Examine the portrayal of the nature and culture of STEM in standards documents and evaluate the implications
for classroom practice. (NCTM, 2000; NAS, 2012; Achieve, 2013)
Self Theories of
Intelligence
Community Leadership
Examples of Enactment
•Discontinue ability tracking in science and math sequences.
•Teachers set and enact high expectations for students and take high
responsibility for their teaching.
•Faculty work together to understand the meaning of demographic and
achievement data and develop actions that are responsive to the data.
Explore the relationship among beliefs about intelligence, learner resilience, and motivation by analyzing
responses to learning challenges (Dweck, 2000).
Geography & Construction of Probe intersectionality of identity and situated group identities through explicit analyses of power and privilege and
Identity
unexamined beliefs that define what it is to be the “right kind of person” in STEM (Lensmire, 2009; Martin, 2009).
•Students are explicitly taught that intellectual skills can be acquired
through effort and persistence.
•Scrutinize and challenge the mindframes and paradigms that animate
our work in schools/districts.
•Educators work on the role of group and individual identity on student
opportunities and achievement.
Discourse & the Single
Story
Examine common essentializing notions about gender, race, and class, their intersections with one another, and
their impact on educational experiences (Gee, 2008).
Adult Facilitation
Strategies
Teachers and leaders use focused conversations, talking circles, and other strategies to take the group from the
surface of a topic to the implications for their work. (Stanfield, 2000; Pranis, 2005).
Living in a World of
Systems
Understand key systems concepts (including the idea of system function or purpose), apply those concepts
to educational systems, and identify leverage points for modifying system functions. (Meadows, 2008)
Leadership
Storytelling
Use the power of public narrative and leadership storytelling to communicate values to one another, and to
motivate others to action (Ganz, 2008).
Mind Frames
Change institutional paradigms to focus on student learning and the role of teachers as change agents. (Hattie,
2012; Muhammed, 2009)
© 2013 Science Museum of Minnesota Teacher Professional Development Group
•Communities flexibly employ a variety of discussion structures that
involve all members in sense- and decision-making
•Community members attend to both intellectual and affective needs.
•Teachers and leaders use stories to share their motivation, build
relationships, strategize, and work together to achieve common purpose.
•School leaders focus on changing cultural paradigms and
relationships rather than technical elements and structures.
Updated 19.ix.2013
Identity
Explore the relationship among beliefs about intelligence,
Self Theories
learner resilience, and motivation by analyzing responses to
of Intelligence
learning challenges (Dweck, 2000).
Probe intersectionality of identity and situated group
Geography &
identities through explicit analyses of power and privilege
Construction of
and unexamined beliefs that define what it is to be the “right
Identity
kind of person” in STEM (Lensmire, 2009; Martin, 2009).
Discourse & Examine common essentializing notions about gender, race,
the Single
and class, their intersections with one another, and their
Story
impact on educational experiences (Gee, 2008).
• Students are explicitly taught that
intellectual skills can be acquired through
effort and persistence.
• Scrutinize and challenge the mindframes
and paradigms that animate our work in
schools/districts.
• Educators work on the role of group
and individual identity on student
opportunities and achievement.
•
Students are explicitly taught that intellectual skills
can be acquired through effort and persistence.
Self Theories of Intelligence
Explore the relationship among beliefs about
intelligence, learner resilience, and motivation by
analyzing responses to learning challenges (Dweck,
2000).
Identity
Mindsets
Fixed versus Growth Mindsets
Plus, Minus, Interesting
(PMI)
Skim read and write notes in margin of:
• Pluses: (+) Those things that are a benefit
• Minuses: (-) Those things that are a drawback
• Interesting: (?) Questions or comments about
interesting things you read
The Effect of Praise on Mindsets
(5th Graders with Puzzles)
References
Briceno, Eduardo. "The Power of Belief - Mindset and
Success." YouTube. YouTube, 18 Nov. 2012. Web. 17 Apr.
2014.
Dweck, Carol S. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.
New York: Random House, 2006. Print.
Dweck, Carol S. "Mind-Sets and Equitable Education." Principal
Leadership (January 2010): 26-29. Web.
Dweck, Carol S. Self-theories: Their Role in Motivation,
Personality, and Development. New York, NY: Taylor &
Francis Group, LLC, 2000.
Dweck, Carol S. "Carol Dweck: The Effect of Praise on
Mindsets." YouTube. YouTube, 11 June 2010. Web. 17 Apr.
2014.
Our Kids Diversity in Iowa. Iowa Department of Education,
2008. DVD.