This study explored the biography-driven approach to teaching culturally and linguistically diverse students in science education. Biography-driven instruction (BDI) embraces student diversity by incorporating students' sociocultural, linguistic, cognitive, and academic dimensions of their biographies into the learning process (Herrera in…

This qualitative theoretical study was conducted in response to the current need for an inclusive and comprehensive model to guide the preparation and assessment of teacher candidates for culturally responsive teaching. The process of developing a model of culturally responsive teaching involved three steps: a comprehensive review of the…

This paper is about new contents that can be introduced into science education. It is a description of an experience aimed at introducing a complex approach into the final grade of a Brazilian elementary school. The aim is to show the transformation of the conception of space and time from the Middle Ages with the physics of Aristotle to the 20th…

This forum discusses the issue of "othering" and how intersectionality is a useful analytical framework for understanding the students' immigrant experiences in, and out of, the science classroom. We use a feminist perspective to discuss Minjung's study because gender is a key aspect of one's identity other aspects such as…

This qualitative, sociocultural study examines how teacher preparation programs may have deliberate impact on science reform by unearthing the complex layers of diversity inherent in the contextual reality of education. This study was conducted in one of the largest school districts in the Southeastern United States, serving a predominately…

This study aims to examine the affect of the degree of religiosity of student teachers, and their nationalism and scientific background on their perception of the nature of science (NOS). First year Arab and Jewish religiously observant, traditional and secular students in Israel (101 in number) with different scientific backgrounds participated…

The future of this country depends on utilizing human intellectual resources from varying viewpoints to make informed decisions on issues from conservation biology to biotechnology, or even bioengineering. An increase in Latina/o students in the biological sciences would bring a variety of viewpoints, as well as personal and cultural experiences…

This paper constitutes a case-study of the "science show" model of public engagement employed by a company of science communicators focused on the popularization of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subject disciplines with learner constituencies. It examines the potential of the science show to foster the interest…

In this case study, I use an ethnographic-style approach to understand the funds of knowledge of immigrant families living in "colonias" on both sides of the US/Mexico border. I focus on how these "knowledges" and concomitant experiences impact the ways we perceive and treat immigrant students who have all too often been viewed…

In reform-based science curricula, students' discursive participation is highly encouraged as a means of science learning as well as a goal of science education. However, Asian immigrant students are perceived to be quiet and passive in classroom discursive situations, and this reticence implies that they may face challenges in discourse-rich…

Reform in science education is a slow process. Current professional development experiences may slow the process even more if modeled after traditional top down approaches. The common practice of inviting "experts" to deal with specific local issues supports a covert message that classroom teachers are not capable of meeting the…

While Ester Aflalo's conclusions for teaching the nature of science seem uncontentious her analysis of degree of religiosity and its relationship to perceptions of the nature of science among Palestinian Muslim and Jewish Israelis fails to take into account complex affiliations to religion such as history, the nature of identity and…

In Brazil, mathematics education was associated with Jean Piaget's theory. Scholars in the field of education appropriated Piaget's work in different ways, but usually emphasized logical aspects of thought, which probably lead to an expansion of mathematics education influenced by psychology. This study attempts to extend the range of…

This study examines how traditional ecological knowledge--TEK--can be identified and utilized to create culturally responsive science learning opportunities for Maya girls from a community in the Guatemalan highlands. Maya girls are situated in a complex socio-historical and political context rooted in racism and sexism. This study contextualizes…

This paper presents a new approach to science education that takes a path through sociocultural theory and into the ideas of Gloria Anzaldúa. We apply Anzaldúan theory to science education by illustrating it in action through various examples which explore the multidimensionality of teaching science with Latin@ students in various contexts…