Attending to Race and Identity in Science Instruction

What Is The Issue?

Authors:

BY JEANNE CHOWNING, HANAKO OSUGA, WANDA BRYANT, & JASON FOSTER EDITED BY KATHLEEN ARADA, PHILIP BELL & ABBY RHINEHART | JULY 2022

Things to Consider

• Race is a central feature of many people’s identities—both avowed (how they see themselves) and ascribed (how other people see them). Taking the time to address identity and providing space for students to share important parts of themselves with others can help strengthen science classrooms in multiple ways.
• The NRC Framework highlights the need for students to engage in science and engineering practices while learning and applying disciplinary core ideas and making connections to cross-cutting concepts (“3D learning”). However, it also emphasizes identity and interest as fundamental to learning (“5D learning”). Building on identity and prior interest in instruction is as important as building on prior knowledge.
• Identities are also intersectional. Identities should be considered holistically; there are many factors that can combine to impact identity in addition to race—including gender identity. Intersectionality examines how systems of power might impact individuals who are marginalized because of their socio-political identities, and how different types of discrimination combine to influence the experience of oppression (for example, those who identify as female and also as people of color).

Attending to Equity

• Everyone should hold a critical lens in all aspects of their work (like language and daily practices) and take steps for continued accountability, in order to avoid perpetuating harmful, one-sided, deficit-laden narratives of race in all contexts.
• Science and science education are not neutral. The historic and continued centering of white people and whiteness actively erases and marginalizes the histories and contributions of scientists and communities of color. Leveraging student identity and critically talking about race in science can create space for more expansive representation.

Recommended Actions You Can Take

• To be conscious is to have an expanded awareness of self and others. A conscious practitioner is an expert who goes beyond their expertise to intentionally and continually impact their daily practice. Explore this resource to build critical consciousness.
• Build trusting, caring relationships with students. Have conversations with them about their communities, histories, and beliefs. Explore How to Create Identity Affirming Opportunities in Science Lessons and this Teacher Learning and Reflection Module on creating a learning environment for supporting discussions of race, racism, and genetics.

• Examine classroom practices, including productive talk and varied participation structures. Identify how you are leveraging the gifts that young people bring to the learning environment and connecting a range of relatable examples of representation, especially for your students from marginalized backgrounds.

• Identify what classroom practices and structures may be damaging to students’ racial identities. Set goals and make plans for needed changes.
• Evaluate instructional materials and units. Find opportunities for students to meaningfully talk about race in critical and relevant ways. Continue emphasizing the socio-political construction of the idea of race and debunking false narratives of race in science by using instructional materials that explore the intersections of Race, Racism, and Genetics.

Supplemental File: How to Create Identity Affirming Opportunities in Science Lessons

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• #71 Science Ed Equity Framework
• #79 Systemic Racism and Science Ed
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