Jennifer D. Adams

Engaging Underrepresented High School Students in an Urban Environmental and Geoscience Place-Based Curriculum

ABSTRACT High school students in a large urban area, undergraduate students, and geoscience faculty at a local college used a place-based pedagogical approach to engage in real geoscience problem-based inquiry in a local urban park. The overarching goals of this project were to learn the potential of place-based geoscience research experiences to: influence students science identities and increase participation of urban youth in science. Student researchers participating in the activity (N = 22) completed Likert-scale pre- and post-surveys, which were analyzed using paired t-tests. Student journal reflections were analyzed. Survey and journal reflection results showed that students science identities were enhanced and student interest in learning science outdoors increased through participation in the program. The evaluation of the project outcomes add to the body of knowledge describing how outdoor settings and place-based pedagogies can be used to increase urban students interest in science, and demonstrates how students working with scientists who conduct research in students communities can be a source of motivation for studying sciences and identity development.

Museum–University Partnerships for Preservice Science Education

In this chapter, we focus on the role that Informal Science Institutions (ISIs) play in partnership with higher education institutions for teacher education; specifically partnerships in the United States, Canada and Israel, where pre-service science teachers are able to learn and practice teaching in ISIs. Using a sociocultural lens we review the emerging patterns across these sites and discuss how museum practicum experiences provide pre-service teachers with opportunities to teach in low-stakes settings, repeat lessons to diverse audiences, and develop their skills and dispositions for teaching science. Challenges that exist in such partnerships are reviewed followed by a discussion that addresses implications for science teacher education and research.

Community Science: Capitalizing on Local Ways of Enacting Science in Science Education

Framing community science as science that is found and used in localized ways, I review research on science education in local contexts. Inclusive of terms like indigenous science, place-based science, informal science, and urban science, I highlight projects and research in science education that emerged from topics relevant to the local community. First, I define and describe community science. Then I use examples from science education projects and research to make a case for the effectiveness of community science in science teaching and learning. Lastly, with the increasingly global nature of scientific issues (especially pertaining to sustainability), I discuss sustainability science education as related to Community Science.

Place and Identity

In this chapter I present an emerging theoretical framework for thinking about and enacting place-based education for people who have a sense of place that may not be connected to a specific locale or is connected solely to the locale in which they currently live. I use a sense of multiplace that describes a sense of place that may be connected to multiple places at once through history, memories, identity, and lived experiences.

Place-Based Geosciences Courses in a Diverse Urban College: Lessons Learned

ABSTRACT Recognizing the need to attract more students, especially those from underrepresented groups, a team of college faculty and experienced New York City Department of Education (DOE) Earth Science Teachers redesigned the two foundational Earth and Environmental Science courses required for all teacher and science major students in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES). These two foundation courses have been taught in a survey style with broad, but shallow, content. The redesign team worked together to place greater emphasis on science process skills, technology, and discovery and chose air quality and beach morphodynamics as integrating topics for skill and content development throughout the courses. Students conducted long-term, place-based research within the city in ways that allowed them to apply the scientific method and develop skills necessary for practicing geoscientists, which included conducting online data searches, performing statistical analyses, graphing, using geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning system (GPS), and making and giving presentations. Students used research-grade equipment, scanning electron microscopes (SEM), survey instruments, and petrology microscopes to collect and analyze their data. Iterative evaluations were conducted on the courses to provide guidance on ways to improve, and they formed the basis for course revisions in more-advanced courses.

Against Neoliberal Enclosure: Using a Critical Transdisciplinary Approach in Science Teaching and Learning

ABSTRACT This article offers a critical transdisciplinary heuristic as both a tool for critique of neoliberal reforms in schools, particularly in science and environmental education, and a springboard for the reconstruction of education along more equitable and sustainable lines. Emerging from the sociocultural study of science, critical pedagogy, critical youth studies, and participants’ reflections on practice, this heuristic challenges hegemonic assumptions pervasive in science teaching, learning, and research by foregrounding the lived experiences of students. Two narratives demonstrate the potential of this heuristic in both a formal and an informal context.

One Hundred Ways to Use a Coconut

A seed floats for hundreds of miles and finally germinates and grows when it reaches dry land, often in nutrient-poor sands and soils. The coconut has been a source of sustenance and raw materials for many cultures around the globe. It is a plant that I connect with on many levels. Not only was I called a “coconut” in school, because of my Caribbean heritage, but the coconut is also a staple ingredient for several dishes that are commonly consumed in my home today. I remember my instructions on picking out a good coconut from my mother: “To pick out a good coconut, look at the eyes, make sure they are dry. Shake the coconut; it should sound hollow yet juicy.” Whenever I travel and have to pick out a good coconut, I recall these instructions and I seem to always manage to get the perfect nut.

Extending Classrooms into Parks Through Informal Science Learning and Place-Based Education

Parks are spaces where lived experiences and science learning could come together in ways not afforded by brick and mortar informal science institutions. They offer unique opportunities for authentic science learning in that learners interact with diverse ecosystems within urban settings and engage in authentic data collection practices while making salient connections to place. In urban settings where greenspace is often a premium, parks are opportunities for educators to facilitate experiences with nature that are unparalleled in the classroom. In order to make the most of parks and other similar spaces we ask, in what ways can we engage learners in these environments? Using a theoretical lens of place attachment and identity this chapter describes how teachers form attachments to and build identities around places for science learning and place value on facilitating such experiences for their students. First, a theoretical approach to place attachment is outlined which precedes a description of the urban National Park and the teacher learning programs. Then teacher experiences and reflections juxtaposed with place attachment framework highlight notions of environmental stewardship, culturally-relevant learning, student-centered learning, and place-relevant experiences for both teachers and their students. The chapter concludes with reflections of and implications for teacher learning in park settings.

Science Agency and Structure Across the Lifespan: A Dialogical Response

We are a group of science educators and researchers who are culturally diverse as well as diverse in our science teaching and learning experiences. We have worked with teachers and students from the elementary through the university level. In reading the four chapters in this Part C, we draw on our experiences of researching and teaching in various formal and informal settings to ask critical questions about the importance of making science education a multi-contextual, pan-cultural endeavor. What follows is a dialogic response that explores the major themes that emerged for us in the four chapters. We asked ourselves questions to deepen our understanding about science teaching and learning in different contexts such as, what is the goal of formal learning spaces? How can we bring to the forefront teachers’ roles and agency in educational research? How can we use students’ and teachers’ individual life stories to create an inclusive learning community in the science classroom? What is the role of emotions in learning science? This writing approach allows us to share our individual perspectives while we build a collective understanding of connecting science teaching, learning and educational research across different contexts and lifeworlds.