ERIC Number: EJ1242769
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Feb
Pages: 30
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0157-244X
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Critical Chemistry Education in a Private, Suburban High School
Ashby, Patrick; Mensah, Felicia Moore
Research in Science Education, v50 n1 p303-332 Feb 2020
This critical ethnography documents how a group of 25 students and their teacher/researcher in a suburban, private school setting, the vast majority from the dominant cultural background, engaged with and enacted a critical chemistry education together. Critical chemistry education contextualizes chemistry in socially relevant issues and problematizes participants' conceptual frameworks for understanding the intersections between chemistry and our capitalist society by identifying the shortcomings of traditional scientific language to sufficiently interrogate privilege and oppression. Qualitative data from teacher/researcher field notes and journal, classroom video transcripts, questionnaires, focus group interviews, and student artifacts document that while it is difficult for the teacher/researcher and the students of this setting to reflect upon their own positions of privilege, together they interpreted and made meaning of their experience by (1) "developing the ability to critically analyze the products of science for the potential of oppression," (2) "developing an understanding of inequity in science," and (3) "evaluating and respecting diverse knowledge bases." Based on the findings, we suggest students should be encouraged to problematize socially situated science issues related to settings close to their own communities, students should participate in structured and purposeful journaling to improve their metacognition and critical reflexivity, and critical pedagogues must be explicit with students in their Marxist-based interpretation of the global capitalist super structure.
Descriptors: Chemistry, Science Instruction, Social Bias, Private Schools, High School Students, High School Teachers, Science and Society
Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2123/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A