Inclusive and Alternative Spaces of STEM Learning
Geeta Verma
Feb 13, 2019
School of Education and Human Development
University of Colorado Denver
Presentation Outline
Tensions in Science Classroom
Historically Entrenched focus on Canonical knowledge
Evolving push for sensemaking - Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
Autonomy, Power, and Sensemaking in STEM
Negotiating Autonomy, Exercise Power
Alternative and Inclusive Spaces of Learning - Considerations and limitations
An example - ‘Jugaad’ - indigenous inclusiveness in STEM spaces of learning (Verma, in press)
The research team (core team)
Geeta Verma Anton Puvirajah Todd Campbell Helen Douglass
CU Denver Western University, Canada University of Connecticut University of Tulsa
Additional collaborative partnerships:
Consortium for Alternative and Inclusive Spaces of STEM Learning
P.s. - for the purpose of this presentation, I will be using STEM ed and Science ed interchangeably
Tensions in the Science Classrooms
“The education appropriate to such a view of science was clear enough: mastery of the true facts as known by science. For such an education, the best possible material was . . . a clear, unequivocal, coherent organization and presentation of the known: a pure rhetoric of conclusions. For neither doubt nor ambiguity characterized what was known . . . omitting all evidence, interpretation, doubt, and debate sufficed . . . no interpretation was involved, no doubt existed” (Schwab, 1958, p. 375).
Status today
Tensions in the Current Classroom: Push for sensemaking -NGSS Classrooms
Reshape school science learning environments as classroom approximations of scientific activity
Students use resources (e.g., non-standard ideas and ways of thinking about the world, science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts) to explain phenomena or solve problems
Autonomy, Power, and Sensemaking in STEM
Autonomy
Ackerman’s (1980) well known metaphor for autonomy
Imagine that our range of life choices is like a giant sphere. We land on the sphere at one point: this is the life that we are raised into, that we learn from our parents, and the community around us. The point of a liberal education, according to Ackerman, is to help us see a range of possible life choices—to learn about as much of the sphere as possible, and to be able to see other points on the sphere as representing real possibilities for us. At the end of the day we may choose to occupy a point on the sphere much where we started, but we may also choose to end up at another point on the sphere.
Melville, W., Kerr, D., Verma, G., & Campbell, T. (2018). Science Education and Student Autonomy. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 1-11
Negotiating Autonomy: Exercising Power
Before autonomy can be realized, some attention should be given to the way power and control plays out in learning contexts
Acts of control are ‘offers, requests, orders, prohibitions, and other verbal moves that solicit goods or attempt to effect changes in the activities of others’ (Ervin-Tripp, O’Connor & Rosenberg, 1984, p. 116)
Puvirajah, A., Verma, G., & Webb, H. (2012). Examining the mediation of power in a collaborative community: Engaging in informal science as authentic practice. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 7(2), 375-408.
Relating Autonomy and Power to Sensemaking in Science
Autonomy is important (Generally speaking)
Functioning as a citizen in ‘a complex democratic society that is riddled with hard choices demand[s] attention to evidence’ (Sockett, 1993, p. 67)
Autonomy Importance In Science Education
Autonomy, with its relationship to scientific evidence and the development of students’ sense-making agency, provides a rationale and framework for the education of students as epistemic agents (Stroupe, 2014)
Exploring Options to “Supplement” Classroom STEM teaching
Places and spaces where autonomy can be exercised
Places and spaces where power is negotiated and mediated
Places and spaces where students’ Lived Storied experiences are valued and built upon
Some Concrete STEM Examples
And some STEM places/spaces for contextualized discovery and Innovation
Informal, Non-Formal, after-school experiences (Alternative and may be Inclusive)
Some of our work in these spaces
Leonard, J., Chamberlin, S., Bailey, B. E., Verma, G., & Douglass, H (2019). Broadening millennials’ participation in STEM and teaching professions through culturally relevant, place-based, informal science internships. In G. Prime (Ed.), Effective STEM education for African-American K- 12 learners. New York: Peter Lang.
Verma, G., & Puvirajah, A. (2018). Examining the mediation of power in informal environments: Considerations and Constraints. In K. Tobin & L. Bryan (Eds.). Critical Issues and Bold Visions for Science Education The Road Ahead. Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Sense Publishers.
Leonard, J., Chamberlin, S., Johnson, J., & Verma. G. (2016). Social Justice, Place, and Equitable Science Education: Broadening Urban Students’ Opportunities to Learn. The Urban Review, 48 (3), 355-379
Verma, G., Puvirajah, A., & Webb, H. (2015). Enacting acts of authentication in robotics competition: An Interpretivist study. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52, 268-295 DOI: 10.1002/tea.21195
Alternative and Inclusive Spaces of Learning- Considerations and Limitations
An example - ‘Jugaad’ - indigenous inclusiveness in STEM spaces of learning
Koul, R., Verma, G., & Nargund-Joshi (in press). Science Education in India - Philosophical, Historical, and Contemporary Conversations. Springer.
Verma, G (in press). Situating “Jugaad – contextualized innovation” in Science Education in India. In R.Koul, G.Verma, & V. Nargund Joshi (Eds.). Science Education in India - Philosophical, Historical, and Contemporary Conversations. Springer.
Storied Lived Experiences and Scientific Sense Making: An example, may be Jugaad?
Jugaad is a Hindi word which is difficult to translate in English because it draws upon the shared Indian experience of frugal and flexible solutions to find simple and creative solutions to problems that folks experience on a day-to-day basis.
Many definitions:
Present in many societies and have origin stories
In India and other emerging economies, the idea of Jugaad is very prevalent. Radjou, Prabhu, and Ahuja (2012) share that Brazilians use the term “jeitihno”, Chinese call it zizhu chuangxin, Kenyan’s refer to jua kali.
In India, Jugaad may have origins in the Punjabi language - it is used as a noun to describe a makeshift vehicle which was a combination of a diesel engine and a cart.
Jugaad and STEM: Intersections and Considerations
In the book chapter, I do the following:
Discuss Science Enactment and Practices
Discuss Colonial Legacy and Contemporary Science Education in India
Argue for leveraging Jugaad thinking as Contextualized Innovation for STEM education and Career Pathways
Historicities and realities
India: Post colonial legacy of education, strong focus on national examinations
United States: History of marginalization, oppression, strong focus on standardized examinations
So ……?
Assertions:
Historicities influence education systems (including STEM education)
Education Systems are setup to do exactly what they are doing
Minoritized students continue to lag behind their majority peers in formal education
Bigger Question:
How do we think about and act to disrupt existing paradigms and existing institutional, educational, and historical power structures in impactful ways?
References
Ackerman, B. (1980). Social justice in the liberal state. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Mashable. All-girl engineer team invents solar-powered tent for the homeless. Retrieved Feb 10, 2019 from https://mashable.com/2017/06/15/diy-girls-solar-powered-tent-homeless/#HS1_JSk_uSq2
The Hindu (2018, Feb). Meet Muruganantham, the real Pad Man. Retrieved Feb 10, 2019 from https://www.thehindu.com/society/the-real-pad-man-muruganantham-before-the-release-of-pad-man/article22658314.ece
Nelson, D. (2018). Jugaad Yatra: Exploring the Indian Art of Problem Solving. Aleph Book Company, Delhi.
Radjou, N., Prabhu, J., & Ahuja, S. (2012). Jugaad innovation: Think frugal, be flexible, generate breakthrough growth. John Wiley & Sons.
Schwab, J. J. (1958). The teaching of science as inquiry. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 14 (9): 374-379
Stroup, D. (2014). Examining classroom science practice communities: How teachers and students negotiate epistemic agency and learn science-as-practice. Science Education, 98 (3),487-516. .
Verma, G. (in press). Situating “Jugaad – contextualized innovation” in Science Education in India. In R.Koul, G.Verma, & V. Nargund Joshi (Eds.). Science Education in India - Philosophical, Historical, and Contemporary Conversations. Springer.
Thank you !!