USE-IT(Urban Science Education with Integrated Technologies)
Overview
'Scientific literacy for all' is a catch phrase used by science educators to refer to the recent reform initiatives intended to engage all learners in inquiry-based science for understanding. Our mission is to unpack - through activist research - what "science for all" really means. Who are we talking about when we refer to "all" learners? What do we mean by "science?" What does it mean to integrate technology with science? By activist research we mean to suggest an on-going reflexive relationship between research and practice. To begin to make sense of these questions, we are involved in the following activities:
- Research and teaching with community members (parents, children, community workers) around science and inner city life,
- Research and teaching with teachers and other school agents (staff developers, principals, teacher aides) around teaching science across diversity in elementary schools,
- Research and teaching with preservice teachers around what it means to be a socioculturally transformative teacher of science and technology.
A major national science education goal is to promote scientific literacy for all Americans. Egalitarian in theory, this idea of science for all has proven difficult to actualize among all students in all schools. It has been documented that children living in urban poverty experience schooling as rigid: Teachers dominate classroom activity, students are passive, and learning is defined through rote memorization. This kind of rigid education in science has resulted in students who view science as a set of facts to be memorized that has no connection or relevance to their personal lives. It has also produced students who do not see or understand the interrelated nature of science and society, and who cannot use their skills and conceptual understandings to make personal decisions or to engage knowledgeably in debate about scientific matters. This is significant given that 20% of all children attend school in urban poverty.
If reform in science education is to successfully promote a science for all, and in particular in impoverished urban settings that serve as home primarily to minorities underrepresented in the sciences, then understandings must be gained about (a) what children in urban poverty believe about science and about the relationships between their lives and their community and science, and themselves as scientists; (b) what teachers believe are the science educational needs of children living and learning in urban poverty and about ways to promote scientific literacy in poor urban districts; and (c) effective means for enhancing teacher preparation and promoting school science reform in these areas.
We are involved in the following activities to learn more about science education in inner-city settings:
- Development and implementation of after school science using integrated technologies in Austin homeless shelters
- Ethnographic study of homeless children and their families and science
- Preservice teacher internships teaching science in homeless shelters
Partners
Acknowledgements