Teaching Science to Every Child

Using Culture as a Starting Point

John Settlage, Sherry A. Southerland, Lara K. Smetana, Pamela S. Lottero-Perdue

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781317313298
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Teaching Science & Technology

Ambitious and encouraging, this text for prospective and practicing elementary and middle school science teachers, grounded in contemporary science education reform, is a valuable resource that supplies concrete approaches to support the science and science-integrated engineering learning of each and every student. At its core, it is based in the view that science is its own culture, consisting of unique thought processes, specialized communication traditions, and distinctive methods and tools. Using culture as a starting point and connecting it to effective instructional approaches, the authors describe how a teacher can make science accessible to students who are typically pushed to the fringe—especially students of color and English language learners. Written in a conversational style, the authors capture the tone they use when they teach their own students. The readers are recognized as professional partners in the shared efforts to increase access, reduce inequities, and give all students the opportunities to participate in science.

Changes in the Third Edition:

• 
  
  

• Features an entirely new chapter on engineering and its integration with science in K-8 settings.

• 
  
  

• Provides fresh attention to the Framework and Next Generation Science Standards while distancing previous attention to process skills and inquiry teaching.

• 
  
  

• Incorporates the latest research about science practices, classroom discussions, and culturally responsive strategies.

• 
  
  

• Retains an accessible writing style that encourages teachers to engage in the challenges of providing equitable and excellent science experiences to all children.

• 
  
  

• Updated companion website: online resources provide links to web materials, slideshows specific to each chapter for course instructors' use, and supplement handouts for in-class activities: www.routledge.com/cw/Settlage

one
Providing All Students with Access to Science

Chapter Highlights

▄ The science classroom is ideal for replacing stereotypes regarding science and scientists with representations that promote student engagement and participation.

▄ Science relies on a particular worldview based in on special habits of mind (e.g., curiosity, openness, and skepticism). These views carry certain values that create distinctions between science and other worldviews.

▄ Students can become engaged in the culture of science when science classrooms are organized around “figuring things out” and creating explanations for phenomena. This approach is framed by attending to (a) disciplinary core ideas, (b) crosscutting concepts, and (c) scientific practices.

▄ Scientific proficiency offers intellectual tools for students to gain control over their lives, attain a wider range of career opportunities, and participate in a more informed citizenry. The efforts to provide “science for all” include females, students from all cultures, English language learners, and students with a variety of physical and cognitive abilities.

▄ Gaps in measures of students’ science knowledge reveal different performances by students from various demographic groups. Rather than calling this difference an “achievement gap,” it is more instructive to consider this an “opportunity gap.”

▄ Cultures are evident within families, social organizations, and workplaces and are signified by the cultural objects and actions. Accepting one’s own cultural legacy is an important phase of appreciating the value of other cultures. This includes recognizing that one can have membership in multiple cultures.

▄ Representing science as a culture is an approach that can increase students’ access to and regard for a field that often feels foreign and uninviting.

▄ The teacher’s role in the classroom can be as a cultural ambassador who continually frames science as a sense-making activity, and through the pursuit of sense-making, guides all students in participating in the culture of science.

Replacing Stereotypes Regarding Science

Science has a culture all its own with certain norms, materials, and actions. However, just as any culture can be reduced to stereotypes, science can be represented in ways that are not fully accurate. The caricature of a scientist takes the form of a White man with wild, uncontrollable hair who is wearing a lab coat and works in a disorganized and dangerous lab. Among famous scientists, we could include Albert Einstein (and he did have the wild hair), Thomas Edison (his lab was full of strange equipment), and the cartoon scientists on television and in movies. The problem with stereotypes is that they portray the actions and behaviors of an entire group in narrow and often inaccurate ways. The same holds for the scientist stereotype.

We are not equating racial and ethnic stereotypes with stereotypes of scientists—that would trivialize racism and bigotry. However, there are substantial differences between how science is portrayed in the media and the actual culture of science. What’s the harm in that? The common scientist stereotype may cause students to feel science is not for them. In other words, the stereotype of the White male scientist does not serve as an effective role model to draw a wide range of students into the culture of science. In fact, such stereotypes may repel many students from science.

One of our responsibilities as teachers is to displace stereotypes, including those that persist for science and scientists. To accomplish this, we can immerse our students in activities, conversations, and other experiences that authentically represent scientific culture. The strategy we’d like you to consider is this: if we can help children understand what it means to be a scientist, which includes developing their competence with the cultural norms of science, then more students will believe they can think like scientists and use these ways of thinking to understand their lives. That, in short, is the goal of science teaching.

The Worldview of Science

Science has a particular worldview. A worldview describes the perspective through which one interprets the world. The scientific worldview offers a perspective that is not necessarily the most effective in all situations. And yet, the power of a scientific worldview offers a unique method for understanding the world. Consequently, as one approaches the role of science teacher, one ought to give the science perspective strong consideration (Bell, Lewenstein, Shouse, & Feder, 2009). Many dimensions of daily life benefit from our use of other worldviews: religious, aesthetic, moral, and so on. Consider the contrasting ways in which a painter and a meteorologist might look up toward the sky. The artist could look at the sky and consider how it could be represented with paint: the shades of white, the edges of the clouds, and the gradations of color from straight overhead down to the horizon. In contrast, the scientist taking in the same scene would make sense of it differently: the shape of the clouds suggests the temperature of the air, the direction of their movement indicates the presence of low and high pressure, and the changing color of the clouds gives an idea about the approach of a cold or warm front.

Neither way of looking at the sky is superior. The traditions of the artist’s viewpoint and the outlook of the scientist serve different purposes. Instead of arguing which way of looking at and thinking about the sky is better, we should acknowledge that artists and scientists hold different worldviews. The criteria for the appropriateness of their perspectives rest entirely upon the communities in which they work. The artist’s view is shaped by the ways of artists. The scientist’s view is similarly influenced by the community of science.

One foundational and distinctive facet of the scientific worldview is the insistence on patterns in the world we can understand. Scientists feel that through careful questioning and observing, humans can identify patterns and that this knowledge can be used to make accurate predictions. You might ask, “What’s the point of identifying patterns? What’s the use of being able to make good predictions?” Scientists are driven to understand the world, to explain natural phenomena. Although there are times when scientists want to understand something to solve a problem, at its essence, the scientific drive to understand and explain the universe is the ultimate prize. The satisfaction of making good predictions comes from solving a mystery and resolving something that was unknown. With this comes a sense of control and power resulting from having achieved a greater sense for how the universe operates.

Scientists share certain basic beliefs and attitudes about appropriate ways of going about scientific work. These dispositions hint at the culture with which scientists approach the world. Scientists presume the universe operates in ways that are comprehensible. Scientists believe that by using the intellect, with the aid of instruments that extend the senses, scientific activity can identify patterns in nature. Scientists also operate with the expectation that they can trace the causes of natural events. Within the scientific culture, there are many features shared with other worldviews. We like to think of these as habits of mind (Dewey, 1910) that can be developed through appropriate rehearsals and practice.

Habits of Mind

Each culture has certain value systems. Individuals within a culture are judged and shaped by those values. The values endorsed by a given culture influence actions of those recognized as members of that culture. For example, some of us believe working hard is its own reward and that doing a good job should not be based on whether there is some reward that will come to us when we finish the task. People who adhere to this value system look down on those who believe that a person ought to be paid according to how well they did a job. These two value systems are products of contrasting cultures. Another example of a value system is being a vegetarian. This set of beliefs leads to certain behaviors: treating certain foods as acceptable and viewing other foods as objectionable. Sometimes this can create conflicts because people’s value systems are in opposition to each other. The point is that what one believes often controls how he or she will act. Simultaneously, a person’s actions often reflect his or her beliefs.

Because the value system of science influences the way in which individuals think, these ways of thinking are shared traditions that represent the scientific habits of mind. These habits are not automatically embedded in the minds of certain people. There aren’t people who are “born” to be scientific. Instead, these values are learned. They are transmitted from one generation of scientists to the next. People new to science and in the process of becoming members of the culture have to learn the scientific habits of mind along with the behaviors consistent with that value system. Otherwise, an individual won’t be recognized as a legitimate participant in science.

Curiosity

The drive to understand something arises from the need to satisfy curiosity. Why do some objects sink whereas others float? Why do plants in one location seem healthy and green whereas similar plants in another place are weak and yellow? Why is the phase of the moon associated with unusual human behaviors? Questions such as these are the driving force for curious people. Being curious is one of the most important scientific habits of mind. Fortunately, most students begin their education with a great deal of curiosity. Every child is curious about objects that move, especially unusual animals (have you ever been at a zoo when a day care group is on a field trip?). The curiosity is there, and it seems appropriate to state that children are predisposed to think like scientists because of their curiosity.

However, it is possible to extinguish a child’s curiosity—and the process of schooling sometimes does just that. If a child is led to believe that there are only right or wrong answers, then this can make curiosity seem unimportant. If the activities of science class are more about filling out a worksheet than figuring out an answer to an interesting question, then curiosity may get in the way. A child’s curiosity can be shoved to the side if learning is reduced to avoiding mistakes and receiving recognition and praise. Almost inevitably, and this is one of the many wonders of teaching science, with the right materials and a supportive atmosphere, a child’s curiosity can be resurrected.

Openness to New Ideas

Another scientific habit of mind is a willingness to consider new ideas. In contrast to the stereotype of the lone scientist working in isolation, science is very much a social endeavor. Although an individual scientist might figure out a problem on his or her own, the idea has to be considered, discussed, and debated by the scientific community before it is accepted or rejected. As members of the scientific culture, individuals are expected to remain open to the prospect that new and better explanations are possible.

As a culture, science allows for the possibility that the current and accepted explanations may not be sufficient. Somebody might gather new data revealing flaws in a current scientific theory or bring a fresh perspective to existing information. There is a long history of solid scientific ideas being replaced by new and better explanations. The culture of science accepts the likelihood that better explanations will emerge as time goes on. That cultural norm translates into individual scientists needing to be open to new ideas and needing to consider the opinions of others.

This can be a source of internal tension. After all, scientists are driven by a curiosity to find and explain natural phenomena. We can imagine the excitement and relief that a scientist must experience when he or she uncovers a pattern that has been hard to identify. Understandably, a scientist would feel a sense of accomplishment and ownership of his or her explanation. Indeed, there is a tradition in science where the first person to make a discovery (of a new species, of a new star, or of a new theory) has his or her name attached to it. But to then suggest that this person must also be open to new ideas? We can sympathize with scientists’ difficulty with this concept. In a later chapter, we will examine a similar tension students experience as they struggle to resolve their personal explanations with those of the scientific community.

Skepticism

The habit of mind of skepticism is a value that is especially distinct within science. Examples of skepticism in action are when someone asks: “Are you sure? Can you provide some facts to convince me? What evidence supports that claim?” In certain respects, being open to new ideas and exhibiting skepticism work hand in hand. Even though cynicism is commonly equated with skepticism, the scientific worldview does not treat skepticism as a negative trait. A cynic is suspicious of people and institutions, suspecting there is always a selfish motivation behind the things others do. In contrast, a skeptic is doubtful about the claims people make and always looks for more evidence to support these claims. A skeptic always needs data to become convinced, whereas there is no amount of data that satisfies a genuine cynic.

The need for data and evidence is central to the skepticism habit of mind. The more evidence someone uses to support his or her ideas, the more likely other scientists will accept these ideas. Arguments in other fields such as politics or the arts or philosophy are not as dependent upon data. Individuals involved in those fields rely on persuasiveness, emotion, and beliefs, but in science, high-quality data that address the question being explored are like gold.

Skepticism could be the reason science is often in conflict with other cultures. Skepticism and faith are exact opposites. Skeptics will demand the reasons that support what we know, whereas people with faith do not expect justification for what they know. Because faith and skepticism rely upon conflicting criteria for claims of truth, the worldviews are in opposition to each other. The way to resolve this dilemma is to consider the idea of cultural membership: each of us is a member of multiple cultures. Just as you change your role when you go from your home to work, to school, and to worship, individuals can shift their worldviews depending on the situation. While various culture may contradict, that doesn’t force those into being completely incompatible.

Emotions as Habits of Mind

A last habit of mind characteristic of science is made up of the emotional components. While our stereotype of scientists may share more with Spock from Star Trek (i.e., thinking divorced from emotions), it is important to note that a scientist’s quest for understanding and explaining comes with and is driven by an assortment of emotions—interest, puzzlement, bafflement, curiosity, even joy—what Keller calls the “joy of going at it” (1983, p. 125). Far from being detrimental or incidental to the work of scientists, emotions are intimately tied with the doing of science (Jaber & Hammer, 2016). The frustration of a failed experiment as well as the thrills from discoveries are exceedingly familiar to professional scientists. The space for genuine emotions ranging from excitement to disappointment should be acknowledged as consistent with scientific activity—in the world of professional scientists as well as during your classroom’s science activities.

For Reflection and Discussion

How do scientific habits of mind correspond to the way science is typically represented in schools? What sorts of activities might we expect an instructor to use if he or she decided to emphasize the habits of mind throughout the science curriculum? What sorts of comments might a teacher offer to students in an effort to nurture the scientific habits of mind?

Science as the Work of “Figuring Things Out”

Science is not just a body of knowledge that reflects current understanding of the world; it is also a set of practices used to establish, extend, and refine that knowledge. Both elements—knowledge and practice—are essential.

(National Research Council, 2012, p. 26)

Scientists do their work by constructing and refining explanations of the natural world. Accordingly, the Framework for K-12 Science Education (National Research Council [NRC], 2012), which served as the foundation for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS; NGSS Lead States, 2013), emphasizes the necessity of students experiencing knowledge...