This paper is part of a larger NSF funded research project that situates the lived experiences and narratives of African Americans and Black heritage in the K-12 science curriculum. This work contributes to research on the science capital, and on positive and empowering identity construction for the African Diaspora. This study takes the position…

Since the adoption of the "No Child Left Behind Act," states have had to adopt rigorous, K-12 academic science standards to secure federal funding. Corresponding to this legislation and a concurrent call for equitable, relevant science standards, the "Next Generation Science Standards" were developed. As the country learns to…

In reading Danielle Ferguson and Catherine Martin-Dunlop's (2020) "Uncovering stories of resilience among successful African American women in STEM," we call for an exploration into reimagining the practice of cultural brokering for supporting Black girls' success in K-12 science and engineering. While none of the participants identified…

Due to the influence of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), the National Research Council's (NRC) "Framework for K-12 Science Education," and a socio-workforce push to increase diverse representation in STEM fields, engineering education has become more prevalent in K-12 classrooms over the past decade. Although this shift is…

This study examined how a contextually based authentic science experience affected the science identities of urban high school students who have been marginalized during their K-12 science education. We examined students' perceptions of the intervention as an authentic science experience, how the experience influenced their science identity, as…

This paper is written in response to Angela Chapman and Allan Feldman's research study, "Cultivation of science identity through authentic science in an urban high school [classroom]". I utilize this forum piece to extend the call for "awakening a dialogue" that critically assesses the effectiveness of current K-12 science…

The focus of this response to Charity Hudley and Christine Mallinson's article, '"Its worth our time': A model of culturally and linguistically responsive professional development for K-12 STEM educators", is to underpin a pedagogy that encourages and provides opportunities for the use of non-standard language in the description and…

Building on the key ideas from Dana Zeidler's paper I expand the conversation from the standpoint that the challenges facing humanity and the capacity of Earth to support life suggest that changes in human lifestyles are a priority. Accordingly, there is an urgent need to educate all humans about some of the science-related grand challenges, such…

Simplified, reductionist approaches to curriculum design and delivery are pervasive in science education. In ecological curricula--particularly in, but not limited to K-12--biomes, ecosystems, habitats, and other units of study are simplified and presented as static, easily identified and described entities. Characteristics, components, and…

Emotion researchers have grappled with challenging methodological issues in capturing emotions of participants in naturalistic settings such as school or university classrooms. Self-reporting methods have been used frequently, yet these methods are inadequate when used alone. We argue that the self-reporting methods of emotion diaries and…

Maria Andree focuses on an immigrant student whose error in a laboratory activity leads to a novel, colorful outcome that she excitedly shares with peers. After engaging in class activities for a few weeks she returns to her earlier dislike of science, saying: "I hate science, particularly Chemistry." The classroom activity system…

This article is a response to Carolina Castano's article "Extending the purposes of science education." Drawing on personal memories of life in Bogota, I raise questions about the nature of violence in Colombia broadly, and ask how the intervention Castano proposes changes the ecology of violence in that country. It also ponders the…

In this paper I explore how Margaret Beier, Lesley Miller, and Shu Wang make claims for the validity and reliability of the instrument they developed to explore the construct of "possible selves" as described in their manuscript, "Science Games and the Development of Scientific Possible Selves."

Serious scientific games, especially those that include a virtual apprenticeship component, provide players with realistic experiences in science. This article discusses how science games can influence learning about science and the development of science-oriented possible selves through repeated practice in professional play and through social…

Rahm sought to illuminate how children and youth make meaning of science in three out-of-school time programs, and the identity work that is done through the trajectory of their youth toward their young adulthood. Through using multisited ethnography, she asserts that we can learn more about what the youth say about their science learning and…