This investigation explores how underrepresented urban students made sense of their first experie... more This investigation explores how underrepresented urban students made sense of their first experience with high school science. The study sought to identify how students' assimilation into the science classroom reflected their interpretation of science itself in relation to their academic identities. The primary objectives were to examine students' responses to the epistemic, behavioral, and discursive norms of the science classroom. At the completion of the academic year, 29 students were interviewed regarding their experiences in a ninth and tenth‐grade life science course. The results indicate that students experienced relative ease in appropriating the epistemic and cultural behaviors of science, whereas they expressed a great deal of difficulty in appropriating the discursive practices of science. The implications of these findings reflect the broader need to place greater emphasis on the relationship between students' identity and their scientific literacy developme...
International Journal of Technology in Education and Science, 2020
This mixed-methods study examines the implications of using the tenets of culturally relevant ped... more This mixed-methods study examines the implications of using the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) to design an elementary science lesson grounded in four virtual reality (VR) videos. Given the need for additional understandings of how elementary science educators can infuse cultural relevance alongside content development, this study illuminates how designing for CRP can utilize VR as a pedagogical platform to bridge science instruction and students’ lived experiences. Using pre- and post-attitudinal surveys (n=145) and post interviews (n=48), we examined students’ perceptions of a single virtual reality lesson about energy and food chains. The data suggest that learning through a CRP-based VR design (CRP-VR) enhanced students’ perception of the connection between the science content and its socio-political application to social justice issues. Implications highlight the potential of leveraging VR technology as a means to provide science instruction that explicitly afford...
The challenge of opening the doors to science has been a topic of debate for many years. This con... more The challenge of opening the doors to science has been a topic of debate for many years. This content analysis study documented an urban school’s attempt to use representational practices to promote positive science identities for African American boys. Our analysis revealed how the school attempted to offer connections between ethnic identity and achievement ideology through representational practices. Whether it was posting the names of famous African American male scientists or promoting attendance to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), the school used postings, displays, and interior pictures to communicate a positive science identity. The study highlights the need to promote non-stereotypical science identities for students.
This study used the construct of “lyricism” as an instructional practice to explore the identity ... more This study used the construct of “lyricism” as an instructional practice to explore the identity connections and cognitive learning potential embedded in instruction in a culturally relevant context. Through a 5‐week mixed methods study of students using the principles of lyricism (e.g., metaphor, double entendre, personification, polysemy, simile, and analogy), we used content analysis and interviews to analyze five students’ experiences learning science through lyricism. Our resulting analysis highlighted the generative potential of lyricism as a teaching tool, as students were required to develop a detailed understanding of the concept being taught to complete the lyrical tasks associated with the activity. We discovered that students developed a detailed understanding of the concepts while concurrently developing a rich appreciation of the scientific language they learned in the process. In this way, using lyricism as a teaching tool was paramount to the construction of a “third...
This investigation explores how underrepresented urban students made sense of their first experie... more This investigation explores how underrepresented urban students made sense of their first experience with high school science. The study sought to identify how students' assimilation into the science classroom reflected their interpretation of science itself in relation to their academic identities. The primary objectives were to examine students' responses to the epistemic, behavioral, and discursive norms of the science classroom. At the completion of the academic year, 29 students were interviewed regarding their experiences in a ninth and tenth‐grade life science course. The results indicate that students experienced relative ease in appropriating the epistemic and cultural behaviors of science, whereas they expressed a great deal of difficulty in appropriating the discursive practices of science. The implications of these findings reflect the broader need to place greater emphasis on the relationship between students' identity and their scientific literacy developme...
International Journal of Technology in Education and Science, 2020
This mixed-methods study examines the implications of using the tenets of culturally relevant ped... more This mixed-methods study examines the implications of using the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) to design an elementary science lesson grounded in four virtual reality (VR) videos. Given the need for additional understandings of how elementary science educators can infuse cultural relevance alongside content development, this study illuminates how designing for CRP can utilize VR as a pedagogical platform to bridge science instruction and students’ lived experiences. Using pre- and post-attitudinal surveys (n=145) and post interviews (n=48), we examined students’ perceptions of a single virtual reality lesson about energy and food chains. The data suggest that learning through a CRP-based VR design (CRP-VR) enhanced students’ perception of the connection between the science content and its socio-political application to social justice issues. Implications highlight the potential of leveraging VR technology as a means to provide science instruction that explicitly afford...
The challenge of opening the doors to science has been a topic of debate for many years. This con... more The challenge of opening the doors to science has been a topic of debate for many years. This content analysis study documented an urban school’s attempt to use representational practices to promote positive science identities for African American boys. Our analysis revealed how the school attempted to offer connections between ethnic identity and achievement ideology through representational practices. Whether it was posting the names of famous African American male scientists or promoting attendance to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), the school used postings, displays, and interior pictures to communicate a positive science identity. The study highlights the need to promote non-stereotypical science identities for students.
This study used the construct of “lyricism” as an instructional practice to explore the identity ... more This study used the construct of “lyricism” as an instructional practice to explore the identity connections and cognitive learning potential embedded in instruction in a culturally relevant context. Through a 5‐week mixed methods study of students using the principles of lyricism (e.g., metaphor, double entendre, personification, polysemy, simile, and analogy), we used content analysis and interviews to analyze five students’ experiences learning science through lyricism. Our resulting analysis highlighted the generative potential of lyricism as a teaching tool, as students were required to develop a detailed understanding of the concept being taught to complete the lyrical tasks associated with the activity. We discovered that students developed a detailed understanding of the concepts while concurrently developing a rich appreciation of the scientific language they learned in the process. In this way, using lyricism as a teaching tool was paramount to the construction of a “third...
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Papers by Bryan A Brown