ERIC Number: EJ1443289
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Nov
Pages: 29
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0036-8326
EISSN: EISSN-1098-237X
Intrinsic and Instrumental Care in Pen Pal Letters: Recognizing Care in STEM Classrooms
Ashlyn E. Pierson; Corey E. Brady; Sarah J. Lee; Deborah Shuler; Pratim Sengupta; Douglas B. Clark
Science Education, v108 n6 p1608-1636 2024
Studies of both professional science practice and children's science learning show that care is not merely ancillary to disciplinary work but a core and generative constituent of science practice. In science education research, however, students' care is often overlooked. In this paper, we describe the expression of care across two STEM classrooms (6th and 9th grade) studying biology and ecology and participating in a pen pal exchange. We analyze artifacts from the pen pal exchange as well as students' retrospective interviews and written reflections. Two ways of expressing care surfaced in students' letters: caring for guppies and caring for pen pals. We describe each form of care using examples from our data. We find that students' care for guppies and pen pals was both instrumental (in service of their investigations) and intrinsic (positioning guppies and pen pals as inherently valuable). We then connect these findings to studies of care in children's science learning and in professional science. We discuss methodological and practical implications for recognizing and analyzing how students' care manifests in classrooms and for designing learning activities that cultivate care.
Descriptors: STEM Education, Letters (Correspondence), Caring, Grade 6, Grade 9, Biology, Science Instruction, Ecology
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 6; Intermediate Grades; Middle Schools; Grade 9; High Schools; Junior High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: 1742138