This paper offers a theoretical and practical approach to teaching and learning in STEM education. We uncover the deficits in existing STEM pedagogies while outlining a culturally relevant/responsive model that reveals the science genius of youth who are marginalized in contemporary STEM classrooms. Through an analysis of the concept cultural…

In this paper, the authors analyze and discuss an initiative aimed at engaging urban youth who are traditionally disengaged in STEM. The initiative focuses on utilizing hip-hop as a tool for bridging the divides between urban high school students' culture and the culture of STEM disciplines. In lieu of traditional classroom assignments, students…

This article explores a model for school counselors to capitalize on the therapeutic, empowerment-oriented nature of hip-hop practices to engage in youth participatory action research (YPAR). Drawing from research that supports the use of hip-hop therapy and YPAR in schools, we propose a culturally sensitive group counseling process wherein…

Background/Context: With the ever increasing diversity of schools, and the persistent need to develop teaching strategies for the students who attend today's urban schools, hip-hop culture has been proposed to be a means through which urban youth can find success in school. As a result, studies of the role of hip-hop in urban education have grown…

This paper is birthed from my lifelong experiences as student, teacher, administrator, and researcher in urban science classrooms. This includes my years as a minority student in biology, chemistry, and physics classrooms, 10 tears as science teacher and high school science department chair, 5-years conducting research on youth experiences in…

This article describes, and then applies a newly developed framework for classroom citizenship as an entry point into addressing social justice issues in urban science classrooms. The author provides in-depth descriptions of cogenerative dialogues, coteaching, and cosmopolitanism (3Cs), and presents this triad of tools as an approach to…

The critiques of rap artists and other participants in hip-hop culture provide data for teachers and researchers to investigate the attitudes of US urban youth towards schooling. This study explores the complex relationships between hip-hop and science education by examining how rap lyrics project beliefs about schooling, the relevance of existing…

In this article I explore research in urban science education inspired by the work of Kris Gutierrez in a paper based on her 2005 Scribner Award. It addresses key points in Gutierrez's work by exploring theoretical frameworks for research and approaches to teaching and research that expand the discourse on the agency of urban youth in corporate…