DESIGNING AND IMPLEMENTING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TO SUPPORT CRITICAL SCIENCE CONSCIOUSNESS AMONG SCIENCE EDUCATORS

1 online resource (190 pages) : PDF

2020

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Justice-oriented pedagogies support students’ sociopolitical, or critical, consciousness. Research reveals, however, that science educators, the majority of whom are white, struggle to enact these practices. The purpose of this Design-based Research study is to explore the implementation of a professional development innovation designed to support practicing science teachers’ development of critical consciousness and content specific critical science consciousness. Teachers that possess critical science consciousness are aware that inequities in society influence science, and cognizant of the role science plays in the creation and perpetuation of systemic oppression. This research illuminates two significant findings: 1) Certain science content can be leveraged to increase practicing teachers’ critical consciousness and critical science consciousness, and 2) Situating instructional materials in the history and current realities of the place individuals inhabit can support development of critical consciousness and critical science consciousness. This research also has implications for science curriculum and instruction: 1) Science practices are valuable tools to investigate the epigenetic impact of systemic inequities that create disparate health outcomes among marginalized groups, 2) Science teacher educators and professional development providers need to explicitly address the social construction of race and the role of science in the creation of notions of White Supremacy, and 3) Enacting culturally relevant practices has the potential to liberate teachers as well as students.

doctoral dissertations

Teachers--Training of
Science--Study and teaching

Ph.D.

Critical Consciousness
Critical Pedagogies
Culturally Relevant Pedagogies
Design-Based Research
Professional Development
Science Teacher Education

Curriculum & Instruction

Stephan, Michelle

Lewis, Chance
Lim, Jae Hoon
Sadler, Troy
Reitzel, Adam

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2020.

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Crabtree_uncc_0694D_12543

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:2335