Planting the Seeds of Social Justice in STEM Learning and Teaching

Planting the Seeds of Social Justice in STEM Learning and Teaching

The Role of Educators in CultivatingQuestion Askers, Problem Solvers, and Ethical Citizens

Dr. Jeremy Price

Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA

November 12, 2015

Discussion Warm Up

What is the first word or idea that comes to mind when you think of

STEM?(Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

The Questions We Ask Plant the Seeds for Exploring Social Justice in STEM Education

Discussion Underpinnings

Enduring Understanding

The questions teachers ask themselves while planning and with their students have the power to seed STEM teaching and learning with meaningful social justice issues.

Essential QuestionHow do the questions teachers ask in the planning of their curriculum infuse social justice issues in STEM learning?

Setting the LandscapeFinding Our Bearings in STEM Education and Social Justice

Four Ways of Doing STEM Learning and Teaching

Understanding

Practicing

Communicating Acting On

What Is Social Justice in Teaching and Learning

Recognizing and

Respecting Difference

Understanding Structural

Inequalities

Facilitating Equal

Opportunities and Access

Empowering Learners

Basu & Calabrese Barton, 2010; Cochran-Smith, 2004; Dimick, 2012; McDonald, 2005; North, 2006; Ritchie, 2006; Tan & Calabrese Barton, 2010

Why Teachers Ask Questions inSTEM Learning Environments

• To manage the classroom ("Have you finished the titration?" "How many have completed problem 17?")

• To reinforce a fact or concept ("The food making process in green plants is called photosynthesis, right?")

• To stimulate thinking ("What would happen if...?")

• To arouse interest• To help students develop a mind-set

(Blosser, 1990)

The “Sixth Way” of Questions in STEM Education

Using Questions to Build Bridges

betweenSTEM Ideas and

Practicesand

Social Justice

Good Questions Push Us to the “Heart of Things”

Making the tacit explicit

Problematize what we think we know

Challenge learners to connect across

concepts and ideas

Discover learners’ experiences and

backgrounds

Serve as stepping stones to further

questions

The Pleasure of and Need to Ask Questions

“…[W]e teachers and students must constantly experience the pleasure of asking questions, the need to ask questions. There are challenges that need to be answered, not covered by a veil. We must be more and more curious in the face of social challenges.”

(Brass, Macedo, & Freire, 1985, p. 17)

Exploring Food InsecurityAs a Social Justice Orientation for STEM Learning and Teaching

Food Desert Phenomenon

Food Deserts are “…[U]rban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food. Instead of supermarkets and grocery stores, these communities may have no food access or are served only by fast food restaurants and convenience stores that offer few healthy, affordable food options.”

Source: https://apps.ams.usda.gov/fooddeserts/fooddeserts.aspx

YOUR MISSION

• Context: You are designing an extended investigation for your mid- to upper-elementary students related to food insecurity

• Task: Craft questions that will help you design an investigation that will grow students into question askers, problem solvers, and ethical citizens.

• Materials: Pennsylvania State Standards, The USDA Food Research Atlas, Time for Kids article, and the End Food Deserts PSA.

NOTE: Your task is to craft the questions; don’t worry (at this point) about the investigation or the activities.

Communities as Food Deserts

https://youtu.be/Z6i0mIkk_OE

Questions from the PSA

What makes a community a food

desert?

Questions from the PSA

Can you get fresh vegetables where

you live?

YOUR MISSION

• Context: You are designing an extended investigation for your mid- to upper-elementary students related to food insecurity.

• Task: Craft questions that will help you design an investigation to grow students into question askers, problem solvers, and ethical citizens.

• Materials: Pennsylvania State Standards, The USDA Food Research Atlas, Time for Kids article, and the End Food Deserts PSA.

NOTE Your task is to craft questions; don’t worry about the investigation or the activities.

Sharing and Discussing Your Questions

Where We Go From HereEssential Questions for Further Inquiry intoSTEM Learning and Teaching and Social Justice

Questions for Moving Forward

• What can we hear from the students’ own interests and experiences that help them uncover the connections between social justice issues and STEM learning?

• What are the understandings, practices, and communication skills that we want our students to adopt in uncovering the connections between social justice issues and STEM learning?

• What experiences and environments can we design in which to engage our students to help them grow into question askers, problem solvers, and ethical decision makers?

• How do the questions teachers ask in their classrooms while teaching help students uncover the connections between social justice issues and STEM learning?

https://flic.kr/p/7b118o

Jeremy Forest Price, PhDjeremy.price@fairmontstate.eduhttp://bit.ly/stem-social-justice