Crafting multicultural science education with preservice teachers through service-learning

Many science educators, in the US and elsewhere, support the idea that all students should have fair and equal opportunities to become scientifically literate through authentic, real problem-based science education. However, this challenge requires teachers to find ways to help all students feel comfortable with, and connected to, science. Despite the general consensus around the ideal of science for all, science teacher education programmes have had little or no impact on pre-service teachers’ philosophies of teaching and learning, especially as it relates to serving under-served populations in science. In this paper, I explore community service-learning as one way of addressing the multicultural dimension of pre-service education with the following three questions: In what ways does involving pre-service science teachers in community service-learning influence their views on multicultural science education, in theory and practice? What qualities of community service-learning make multicultural science education a realistic objective? How might service-learning be used to push our collective understanding of what an inclusive and liberatory multicultural science teaching practice could be? I explore these questions and propose further areas of research by using a case study involving service-learning from my own teaching-research with pre-service students

Citizen(s’) Science. A Response to The Future of Citizen Science

Citizen science is fundamentally about participation within and for communities. Attempts to merge citizen science with schooling must call not only for a democratization of schooling and science but also for the democratization of the ways in which science is taken up by, with, and for citizen participants. Using this stance, along with critical studies of place, I build on the criticisms of citizen science outlined in The Future of Citizen Science to argue for the centrality of place. Using a case of urban youths working toward transparency and cross-cultural dialogue regarding energy production in their community, I complicate the proposed immersion model to suggest a further reconstruction of citizen science in ways that account for youths\u27 deep and critical connections to the geohistorical and sociocultural dimensions of place

Delivering private therapy in rural Australia

Enabling high quality, sustainable and accessible services: A framework for rural private therapists.Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Australian Government

Announcement from Publisher

No Abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64529/1/20362_ftp.pd

Place-Based Education: (Re)Integrating Ecology & Economy

Describes the relationship between ecology and economy in place-based education

Montessori Education at a Distance, Part 1: A Survey of Montessori Educators’ Response to a Global Pandemic

The transition to distance learning in the spring of 2020 caused by COVID-19 was particularly challenging for Montessori educators and students because key elements of the Method were not directly transferable to this new and hastily designed format. Hands-on learning with Montessori materials and learning in a community, as well as careful teacher observation, could not be easily replicated when children were learning from home. To understand how educators applied Montessori principles to serve children and families in these highly unusual circumstances, we surveyed Early Childhood and Elementary Montessori teachers about how they translated core elements of Montessori education to a distance-learning environment. The overall results suggest that Montessori distance-learning arrangements balanced live videoconference experiences for children with offline hands-on activities, while also relying on parents’ and caregivers’ involvement. Teachers reported that they largely designed learning experiences themselves, without significant support or guidance from school leaders. Still, teachers reported that they were able to uphold Montessori principles to only a moderate degree under the circumstances. While teachers understandably hunger for support, professional connections, and a return to the classroom experiences that drew them to the field of Montessori education, this study highlights factors that may affect the transition back to school for teachers, parents and caregivers, and students when face-to-face instruction resumes for all children

Learning to teach science in urban schools by becoming a researcher of one’s own beginning practice

An urgent goal for science teacher educators is to prepare teachers to teach science in meaningful ways to youth from nondominant backgrounds. This preparation is challenging, for it asks teachers to critically examine how their pedagogical practices might adaptively respond to students and to science. It asks, essentially, for new teachers to become researchers of their own beginning practice. This study explores the story of Ben as he coauthored a transformative action research project in an urban middle school as part of a teacher education program and, later, over his first year of teaching at that same school. We describe how Ben and his partner teacher created innovative spaces for science learning. This offered Ben an opportunity to make some of his deeply engrained pedagogical beliefs come alive within a context of distributed expertise, which provided for him a space of moderate risk where he could afford the chances of failure without undermining how he felt about his own capacity as a teacher. Our study highlights the importance of creating reform opportunities within the context of teacher education programs that may help beginner teachers construct positive images of teaching that they can hold on to in their future practice.Fil: Furman, Melina Gabriela. Universidad de San Andrés. Escuela de Educación; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Calabrese Barton, Angela. Michigan State University; Estados UnidosFil: Muir, Ben. Columbia University; Estados Unido

Advancing the field through multiple media

No Abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69179/1/20376_ftp.pd