Culture in the Classroom

Hello, and sadly goodbye, since this is my final blog post! I thought for my last post I would bring the topic back to one that’s discussed in TE 403 but really difficult to find lesson plans for: promoting culturally relevant pedagogy in the science classroom. Maintaining a culturally relevant classroom is usually discussed for social studies and language arts classrooms, but it’s important to keep students’ diverse cultures in mind while planning science, too! For example, I made sure to access my 1^st graders’ funds of knowledge while teaching a lesson about stars, starting the discussion with having them share what they already know. However, culturally relevant pedagogy goes past just prior knowledge – it’s about maintaining a students’ own culture in the classroom. Students come from so many different backgrounds, with each bringing their own resources and knowledge that can be applied to academic content. For more ideas about keeping equity and culture prevalent in the science classroom, check out these resources:

• http://stemteachingtools.org/assets/landscapes/STEM-Teaching-Tool-15-Equity-Overview.pdf
• http://www.actionbioscience.org/education/george.html

The second website has some helpful big ideas about curriculum development, explaining how the curriculum should…

• view culture as including the norms, values, beliefs, expectations and practices within a community
• run counter to the commonly-held view that science, as it has developed and is known in the Western world, is objective, value free, and context-independent
• recognize that much of current Western scientific work embraces certain agreed-upon procedures; however, its cultural context influences decisions about which research projects are to be pursued, what questions are to be asked, and so on.

As a member of the Urban Educators Cohort Program, most of my classes have focused heavily on using culturally relevant pedagogy in the classroom. When focusing on science, I think that one main idea that teachers should focus on is allowing students to use what they already know from their families and communities as a basis for lesson planning. In general, if students are already familiar with a topic, they’ll be excited to share their knowledge and build upon it! As an example, here’s a unit I found which could be modified to better relate to the students’ own background knowledge:

http://growing-minds.org/garden-lesson-plans/

This year-long unit involves students growing a school garden while also exploring topics such as insect/plant interactions, properties of soil, and the effects of seasonal weather patterns on farms. It looks like this unit is heavily science-based, but it could also be modified to access students’ different funds of knowledge as well! Specifically, here are my suggestions to mold this lesson around the students’ own cultures:

1. When students are planning which plants to include in the garden, encourage them to think about what plants they eat at home! Students can share different dishes they’d like to make using their harvest from the school garden. Challenge them to think of plants that are more diverse than the usual tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, etc. They could instead think of herbs or spices they use a lot, possibly researching what ingredients are in their family’s traditional dishes. One personal example I have is that I am growing a habanero pepper plant right now! I got it from a dorm carnival my freshman year and it’s been growing ever since. From its peppers I have cooked up some newer (hotter!) hot sauces that I’ve never tried before! In general, the students should share their own unique dishes and learn about others’, successfully promoting diversity in the science classroom.
2. Take a field trip to somewhere in the community to study gardens! By connecting the classroom to the local community, students will become excited about exploring places with which they are already familiar. While students would have prior knowledge about local gardens, the task can still be focused on exploring what they don’t yet know, such as what patterns they see in the gardens, what objects are most common, and how insects seem to be affecting the plants. As an example, my TE 403 class took a field trip to the MSU Children’s Garden, which was a lot of fun!
3. Have students interview their family members, guardians, neighbors, etc. about gardening tips! It’s likely that students will have some connections to people who either garden or just own house plants, so by asking questions about taking care of plants students could gain a better understanding of what plants need. Plus, they could find some unique tips that can be discussed in class, such as how egg shells, coffee grinds, and apple cores can help plants grow better. This unique tip could spark discussions about how plants need more than just water, air, and sunlight, they also need nutrients just like us! Thus, by accessing resources in their own cultures and communities, students can bring outside knowledge into the classroom that can spark more discussions.

I hope these lesson modifications helped clarify how we teachers can bring culturally relevant teaching into our science classrooms. While teaching science content is very important in order to help our students develop deeper understandings of phenomenon as well as problem solving skills, I argue that it is equally important to value our students’ cultures because of the potential they bring to our classrooms. Students from all different backgrounds bring their own resources and prior knowledge to school, and in order to help them become scientists we need to start with these values and then build upon them. If you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to comment – otherwise, have a happy winter break, you deserve it!