Capítulo 3: Casos de Estudio
3.3 Empresa: Textiles Padilla e Hijos Ltda
During the first stages of the SDE when we began to plan for the semester, Andres had shared his interest in addressing cultural issues, such as issues of race, in the science classroom. However, he had also shared that despite this desire, he found topics such as gender or race difficult to bring into the classroom because they are generally not part of the required content (as determined by the state’s standards and the school’s policy).
Andres: It’s difficult to naturally address gender, race, or even religion [in science]. I think those are tough to address in science especially chemistry classrooms because
it so outside the norm of the standards. (August 17, teacher interview)
Andres, despite initially struggling to see the intersections of science and cul- ture, the example below shows him expressing views of teaching science in ways that would include social or cultural aspects.
Andres: I know recently what’s on kids’ minds is lead with Flint, Michigan. I’ve looked into how we can incorporate that more than, “Oh there’s lead in Flint, Michigan.” I think that could be an avenue that I want to explore, which is actually
If we can explore that and how we can talk about why the plumbing in that area is so poor there. Why is it lead infested? Also, what kinda groups are mostly affected and
how that could be a structural [issue]. . . . Not to sound crude, but are they just screwing those people in that area? (Aug.23, Teacher interview)
In the SDE, Andres had co-designed a lesson on the scientific and engineering practice unit in which we utilized data related to racial representation in the field of science education and careers. This was done with the purpose of sparking discussions that could tie together race (culture) and science.
Andres: I think that discussion would be interesting and hearing what they think. I don’t know how many of them have had the opportunity to talk about race in the
classroom or mix the two, science and race. (August 23, teacher interview)
Historical perspectives are as important as cultural perspectives in teaching and learning science, but Andres did not bring in historical perspectives because of the culture of his department: The community of teachers in the science department prioritize completing the content required of the two science courses necessary for the science college track.
Andres: We’ve cut out the history of it. That’s because the other classes have as well. I’m like, well the history is important, but the pace of what all needs to be
taught in Chem One. . . . I need to find, cause I’ve gone through and I’ve determined what is taught in Chem One versus Chem Two. We cover so many more
standards than Chem Two, so because of that added pressure of covering a lot more in Chem One, I’ve got to be very particular with what I teach.(September 20,
Andres believes it is important to include historical perspectives in the science classroom. In the SDE, for the first lesson, Andres had started the lesson with an informal discussion of famous scientists to encourage students to think about historical representation of scientists in the field.
Research: So you focus on the current content versus the history? Andres: Yeah, which is unfortunate ’cause that is definitely important. I think those, as we’ve talked about, like so these are the famous scientists. (September 20,
teacher reflection)
This could explain why Andres did not engage in practices that allowed for more multicultural views of construction of scientific knowledge. This is evident in his instructional practice related to science and engineering practices: He often provided students with the list and never addressed these practices explicitly in the classroom later on.
Andres: Prior to this I don’t feel like I’ve taught with their cultures in mind. I think I have treated them differently, if that makes sense. I’ve definitely been mindful in how I treat students but not necessarily how I’ve taught. (November 6,
teacher reflection)
In spite of including social, cultural, and historical aspects in science, Andres still maintained monocultural or universal views of the nature of scientific knowl- edge. I provide two examples below that illustrate Andres’s understanding of science: science as discovery of truth and science as a body of theories.
I find that science challenges a student to use critical and spatial thinking as well as having the ability to understand theory and being able to apply the theories. The
near certainty that science can provide as well as discoveries and challenges to what’s accepted as correct is exciting. (Final reflection, teacher artifact)
This universal view, enacted in his practice, had an impact on student learning. Due to the historical and cultural practice of science being taught in discrete, separate, and unrelated ways, students shared a similar disjointed view of science where they saw no relationship between algebraic practices, chemical concepts, and, consequently, how scientific knowledge is constructed. I provide two example excerpts below that illustrate his view of the students in his classroom. In the first quote, students express ideas that demonstrate their lack of understanding of scientific practices of the science community: Data is often only seen in history or math classrooms and therefore the students mistakenly assume that it has no relationship with science.
Andres: When you talk about scientists, and I think someone said like history class. All right, well when do you use data? And a lot of them can say history and
they would say math. I’m like, “Well, you haven’t used this data, have you?” (September 7, teacher reflection)
In the quote below, Andres shared the frustrations of his students and himself because of the lengthy engagement in computational concepts of chemistry such as calculating density, which students do not see as part of science but a math class enacted in the science classroom.
Andres: We’ve already been doing all this math and they’re tired and they want to do chemistry. It was a thing where they were just really exhausted, not because of
the conversation, but really when are we gonna get to chemistry?
They need something and unfortunately like with chemistry, like you don’t really get any wet labs. (September 7, teacher reflection)
After engaging with a variety of literature such as sociocultural perspectives of science in the SDE, Andres began to critically reflect on the nature of science, the role of culture in science, and its implication in his instruction:
I have started to acknowledge how science is generally thought through a Western lens, without much consideration of other perspectives. A better understanding of how different cultures/regions/groups of scientists view scientific principles could translate for a better ability for me to consider students’ different backgrounds.
(Final reflection, teacher artifact)