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…

A growing body of research demonstrates the value of asking students to write about science for authentic purposes. But which purposes--and, just as importantly, whose purposes--count as authentic? In this theoretical article, we review several conceptions of authentic purpose drawn from science education and literacy education and use these to…

The southernmost Thailand insurgency has increased violence since the early 2000s. It is a cause of learning loss and psychological stress among students, primarily Muslims. Having been exposed to unrest for a long time, students lack confidence and lose interest in learning many subjects, including physics. Culturally responsive teaching can…

Native Americans are the least represented population in science fields. In recent years, undergraduate and graduate level summer research programs that aimed to increase the number of Native Americans in science have made some progress. As new programs are designed, key characteristics that address science self-efficacy and science identity and…

This essay takes up a question that was left unanswered in the paper by Parsons and Morton, namely, why the African American students interviewed in the study described their best teachers as they did. The theoretical perspectives of Rogoff and Boykin are applied to show the importance of culturally resonant science classrooms that hum with the…

The main focus of this paper is to put forward an argument about the value of asset-based, culturally relevant/responsive and sustaining pedagogies in science education, especially in former colonial contexts. Countering the framing hegemony of science education through a historically Euro-dominant lens, we call for a critical analysis of the…

This paper emerges from a reflection inspired by Kristen A. Searle et al.'s "Whiteness at Work in the Elementary Classroom: A Case Study." Through the lens of Whiteness, the authors explored how a White male elementary teacher, who engaged in an integrated technology professional development, implemented culturally responsive teaching.…

This paper is a result of the reflection on Kristin Searle, Colby Tofel-Grehl, Andrea Hawkman, Mario Suarez, and Beth MacDonald's paper, "Whiteness at work in the elementary classroom: a case study," which follows a White male teacher as he is trained to employ an integrated technology unit that connects science, social studies, and…

We are interested in how whiteness shaped one teacher's abilities to engage his elementary school students in culturally responsive pedagogy, especially his abilities to engage or avoid conversations about race-based inequities in an integrated technology unit focused on NGSS disciplinary practices. We draw upon culturally responsive pedagogy,…

Developing and integrating culturally aligned curriculum models which promote use of resources, such as indigenous artefacts, has been a challenge in science curriculum reforms. The study focused on the development of an integrated indigenous-pedagogical model for use in high school physics curriculum. The views of elders, teachers and learners in…

In this forum, we discuss the need for multicultural education that is supported by culturally relevant pedagogy to fashion science teaching that intimately connects science content to students' sociocultural and linguistic experiences. In Nepal, teacher education programs and teachers' pedagogical practices view students' multiple cultural and…

In an effort to pursue and achieve quality and equity in science education, the South African National Curriculum Statement stipulates that learners should be accorded an opportunity to acquire and apply knowledge and skills in meaningful ways. Accordingly, the curriculum promotes knowledge in both local and global contexts. The study investigated…

This paper explores the ways learners respond to and express themselves while interacting with cultural artifacts or cultural realia, "beads and beadwork," used to mediate the teaching and learning of life science concepts in a science classroom. South African policies, enacted in the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) and the…

This study explores some of the ways in which the dominant science education system in the United States suppresses Indigenous knowledge systems and privileges Western knowledge. Using anti-oppressive inquiry through critical self-reflection, this study is situated in experiences I have encountered as a non-Indigenous doctoral student, curriculum…

As increasing numbers of families migrate from a range of countries into communities where Western science is viewed as valued curriculum content, a need for understanding the cultural nature of teaching Western science has become more urgent. The study reported in this paper sought to investigate pedagogical responses to everyday and scientific…