This article reports on a research study investigating the career decision-making processes of urban science teachers as one element central to understanding the high rates of attrition in the field. Using a longitudinal, prospective, context- and subject-specific approach, this study followed the career decisions of case study teachers over a…

Project-based science (PBS) curricula have project- and inquiry-based aspects that leverage the strengths of urban students from ethnic and racial groups underrepresented in science careers, potentially impacting positively these students' science achievement and attitudes and thus their college and career plans. We aimed to determine the extent…

This paper examines the use of students' lived experiences in an urban elementary science classroom. Students bring different funds of knowledge that are accumulated through their lived experiences into the classroom, and I examine what those funds of knowledge mean to an elementary science teacher working in an urban school. I describe how a…

In this paper, we draw from a narrative life history approach to report in depth on the experiences of one teacher, Shagufta, in a high-poverty urban elementary school in Lahore, Pakistan. The purpose of reporting Shagufta's story is twofold. First, we want to make sense of her role as a science teacher--what should the children in her school…

Elementary and middle school teachers in urban schools in India provided responses to the science efficacy instrument (STEBI-A). These responses were evaluated using Rasch analysis and parametric tests. Rasch fit statistics and person-item maps were evaluated. It was found that the instrument worked well for the two groups of teachers, but the…