ERIC Number: EJ1236560
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 43
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1050-8406
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Designing for Rightful Presence in STEM: The Role of Making Present Practices
Calabrese Barton, Angela; Tan, Edna
Journal of the Learning Sciences, v28 n4-5 p616-658 2019
Opportunities to learn in consequential ways are shaped by the historicized injustices students encounter in relation to participation in STEM and schooling. In this article, it is argued that the construct of rightful presence, and the coconstructed "making present" practices that give rise to moments of rightful presence, is 1 way to consider how to make sense of the historicized and relational nature of consequential learning. Drawing on theories of consequential learning and critical justice, we analyze ethnographic data from 3 urban middle school classrooms in 2 states during a STEM unit focused on engineering for sustainable communities. Findings describe 2 making present practices students enacted as they engaged in engineering design: modeling ethnographic data and reperforming injustices toward solidarity building. We discuss how these practices supported moments of rightful presence in the STEM classrooms by inscribing youths' marginalizing school experiences as a part of classroom science discourse and co-opting school science tasks as tools for exposing, critiquing, and addressing these unjust experiences. That which was silent and previously concealed from school authority figures gained a rightful place through the voices and scientific actions of the youth and their allies.
Descriptors: STEM Education, Urban Schools, Middle Schools, Engineering Education, Sustainability, Design, Ethnography, Social Bias, Social Justice, Middle School Students, Science Education, Social Change, Social Problems, Student Projects, Sustainable Development
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: 1502755
Author Affiliations: N/A