Standards for the Education of Science Teachers: The Social Context

The program prepares candidates to relate science to the community and to use human and institutional resources in the community to advance the education of their students in science. The social context of science teaching refers to:

• Social and community support network within which occur science teaching and learning.
• Relationship of science teaching and learning to the needs and values of the community.
• Involvement of people and institutions from the community in the teaching of science.

7.1 Examples of Indicators
 

7.2 Rationale and Discussion

Educational resources are of two kinds: those that facilitating teaching and those helping students prepare to learn (Danielson, 1996). It is the teacher's responsibility to identify resources and use them effectively to help students learn. The full potential of each student can only be tapped if science teachers are aware of people, items, and services available both in and out of school.

Several researchers (Ford, 1993; Nieto, 1992; Patthey-Chavez, 1993; Rivera & Poplin, 1995) have found that teachers often do not know much about the families and communities of some of their students. Many teachers in urban communities do not reside in the same neighborhoods as their students. Therefore, they are not familiar with community resources available to help them teach science effectively. Resources can include transportation and health care facilities, businesses, family members and individuals in the community (NRC, 1996).

According to the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996), teachers of science should be able to "identify and use resources outside the school" (p.3). Families are perhaps the most important of these resources. Communication with families of students should go beyond informing them of events in class (in the families' native language). It should give them an opportunity to be involved in the science curriculum. Interested parents, guardians, and community members may participate in identifying and selecting goals, designing curriculum and delivering instruction.

With small effort, teachers may often find parents, guardians and community members with unique and appropriate knowledge and skills related to science. Parents may share stories about the use of herbal medicines and may be a source of legends and myths related to natural phenomena. They may conduct students on tours of businesses that apply science and technology, such as dry cleaning establishments, hair salons, pharmacies, food processing operations, farm, cattle and dairy operations, construction, automotive shops, engineering labs, and health labs.

Other, more traditional, opportunities to investigate the community are also important. Field trips to rivers, sewage treatment plants, water filtration plants. Visits to various industries may help students understand how humans use natural phenomena to their advantage, and also to understand the costs of these benefits. Tours of businesses and industries help students connect school science and the workplace. Experts in assorted fields including engineers, coroners, medical technicians, physicians, wildlife experts, ballistics experts, and veterinarians are resources often available in the community.

Teachers need to be aware of the cultural identities of their students. Culturally relevant teaching (Atwater, Crockett & Kilpatrick, 1996; Larson-Billing, 1995) helps science come alive for many students, especially those who have traditionally been uninvolved in science. Examples, analogies, and investigations based on students' personal experiences and on cultural contexts promote curiosity and help students build a personally meaningful framework in science (Atwater, 1994). Involvement of families and the community in the teaching of science will facilitate the development of links to the community's cultures.

Most families and communities ostensibly value science education, but may display these values in different ways. Sometimes values--often religious values--may directly conflict with tenets of science. Teachers should study the composition of the community carefully and become fully aware of such conflicts. Teachers of science should not feel forced to compromise the values and ethics of what they teach. Instead, they must find ways, through study and analysis, to accommodate these deeply held beliefs--for example, by discussing beliefs at a different level, i.e., by examining the role of belief in all human thought knowledge. By understanding that students are a product of the community, teachers may often find better ways to ensure that science is meaningful to them.

7.3 Recommendations of the National Science Teachers Association

This standard is intended to facilitate inclusion of members of the immediate community and the family in the teaching of science. While much of the preparation related to this standard is the responsibility of the education faculty, science faculty can also contribute by identifying and using community resources in their classes. Guest speakers and field trips can broaden the horizons of science students at any educational level.

Because of the increasing diversity of the communities and schools in America, teachers must develop a vision of education that looks beyond the confines of the classroom walls, and beyond themselves as sole arbiters of knowledge. Prospective teachers of science should be required to study the science-related resources in their community and to include appropriate community resources in their practice teaching. They should be taught how to find resource leads, follow up on them, and integrate them into their teaching.

Candidates should also be provided with opportunities to study a community and use accepted methods to determine the cultural differences that exist. They should then be able to identify ways to integrate this knowledge into the science curriculum to make it more relevant to the students.

While in student teaching, students should provide evidence of contact with families of one or more students. Where appropriate, they should include activities and projects that involve family members in teaching or researching matters related to science. They should include activities in their curriculum designed deliberately to involve the family and communicate with them.

Colleges and Universities in culturally homogenous areas--regardless of the cultural or ethnic composition of the area--should find ways to involve prospective teachers in experiences that will familiarize them with other cultural values. Perhaps most important is the ability to analyze cultures based on an understanding that the candidates themselves are viewing the results with a cultural bias.

Colleges and universities should try to recruit and retain people from groups underrepresented in the sciences. Programs might consider conducting activities such as future science teacher clubs, "Science Teacher for Tomorrow" courses, urban intern programs, and "Diversity Retreat, Day of the Science Teacher, and Award Ceremony." These activities contribute to the experiences of preK-12 teachers and community members alike.

The best programs for science teacher preparation have requirements that involve prospective teachers in the community early and provide methods and opportunities for the teachers to become familiar with available resources. They require demonstrated interaction with families and community resources to involve them in science teaching during field experiences and may require service learning in some courses. Such programs require evidence that candidates understand the cultures of their students and use examples and references from different cultures to involve these students. In geographical areas where cultures are homogenous, the program includes specific opportunities for students to study cultural diversity and address such differences through videotapes and case studies, for example.

7.4 References

Atwater, M. M. (1994). Cultural diversity in the learning and teaching of science. In Gabel, (Ed.) Handbook of research on teaching and learning of science (pp. 558-576). New York NY: MacMillan.

Atwater, M. M., Crockett, D., & Kilpatrick, W. J. (1996), Constructing multicultural science classrooms: Quality science for all. In J. Rhoton & P. Bowers (Eds.), Issues in science education (pp. 167-176). Arlington VA: National Science Teachers Association.

Canales, C. (1994). Urban Teacher Academy: A unique minority teacher recruitment model. Multicultural Education, 2(1), 20-21.

Danielson, C. (1996). Enhancing professional practice: A framework for teaching. Alexandria VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Ford, S. (1993). "Those loud Black girls": (Black) women, silence, and gender passing in the academy. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 245(1), 3-32.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995) But that's just good teaching! The case for culturally relevant pedagogy. Theory Into Practice, 34(3), 159-165.

Lee. L. (1993). Supporting diversity through family and community involvement. Multicultural Education, 1(2), 23-24.

National Research Council. (1996). National science education standards. Washington DC: National Academy Press.

Nieto, S. (1992). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education. New York NY: Longman.

Patthey-Chavez, G. G. (1993). High school as an arena for cultural conflict and acculturation for Latino Angevines, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 24(1), 33-60.

Rivera, J., & Poplin. (1995). Multicultural, critical, feminine and constructive pedagogies seen through the eyes of youth: A call for the revising of these and beyond: Toward a pedagogy for the next century. In C. E. Skeeter and P. L. McLaren (Eds.), Multicultural education, critical pedagogy and the politics of differences (pp. 221-244). Albany NY: State University of New York Press.