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1. Unpacking equity oriented teaching dilemmas in elementary mathematical modeling lessons.

   Carlson, M.; Turner, E.; Suh, J; Aguirre, J. (November 2024, North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education)

   Lamberg, T. (Ed.)

   Our paper details the ways teachers understand and navigate equity-oriented dilemmas (Berlak & Berlak, 1981) when teaching mathematical modeling and how mathematics teacher educators can support teachers’ learning of culturally responsive mathematics teaching. Using Zavala and Aguirre’s (in press) framework for culturally responsive mathematics teaching, we explored the ways teachers describe and frame their choices when faced with dilemmas. Findings revealed that teachers identified dilemmas with Rigor and Support most often, followed by Knowledges and Identities. Dilemmas related to Power and Participation occurred far less frequently. Implications for teacher professional development are discussed. 

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2. Bridging Culture and Code: Culturally Responsive Computing Through Teacher-Led Curriculum Design

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3702653  

   Yan, W; Amresh, A; Parekh, P; Prescott, P (August 2025, ACM)

   Porter, Leo; Brown, Neil; Morrison, Briana; Montero, Calkin (Ed.)

   Indigenous communities remain significantly underrepresented in computer science (CS) and STEM fields, facing persistent barriers such as limited access to resources, infrastructure, and culturally relevant instruction. This study investigated how educators serving Indigenous populations designed and implemented culturally responsive computing (CRC)[2] curricula within a long-term professional development program grounded in a design-based research framework. The study examined how sustained, collaborative support enabled educators to effectively integrate Indigenous cultural knowledge, values, and practices into computer science education. Seven secondary teachers who work in schools in Arizona and New Mexico with over 90% Native American enrollment participated in a two-year professional development program called Let’s Talk Code Teaching Fellow. The program consisted of twelve online modules,weekly virtual meetings, in-personworkshops, and conference participation[3]. Following the DBR framework [1], teachers engaged in iterative cycles of lesson design, implementation, and revision, creating and teaching three culturally relevant computer science lessons. They received feedback from fellow teachers and research teams, allowing them to improve the connection between computing and cultural relevance in their lessons. The study employed a mixed-methods approach to data collection and analysis. Qualitative data included 14 finalized lesson plans, teacher reflections, teacher interviews, and classroom observation notes, which were thematically analyzed to identify common instructional practices and challenges, as well as strategies that connect culture and computing. Our findings showed that teachers sustained local culture by integrating Indigenous languages and art and innovative computing tools such as Scratch, micro: bit, and Sphero robots into their computing lessons. Teachers reported an increase in their confidence in computer science instruction following the long-term PD and benefited from a strong professional learning community. 

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3. Developing teachers’ cultural competencies through co-design of robot-coding mathematics activities for Latinx and Black elementary school students

   https://doi.org/10.14324/LRE.22.1.11  

   Lyublinskaya, Irina; Okita, Sandra; Walker, Erica; Yan, Xiaoheng Kitty (February 2024, London Review of Education)

   This year-long case study involved the professional development of teachers in New York City elementary schools, who co-designed with researchers culturally relevant robot-coding mathematics activities to advance teachers’ understanding of culturally responsive mathematics pedagogy. Study findings indicated that co-designing culturally relevant robot-coding mathematics activities led to the development of teachers’ cultural competencies, deeper understanding of culturally responsive mathematics pedagogy and their students’ cultures, stronger agency, and ability to integrate culturally responsive pedagogy into their mathematics curriculum. Teachers also began to perceive the robot as a mathematical tool rather than a motivational add-on, and started to develop their own cultural lens while focusing less on school structure constraints. The study emphasises the importance of engaging teachers as active co-designers of culturally relevant coding curriculum in professional development programmes. 

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4. Applying PDP Lessons Learned About Inclusive Teaching and Assessment

   https://doi.org/10.58021/S5X592  

   McConnell, Nicholas J; Casey, Caitlin M; Macho, Jocelyn M; O’Donnell, Christine (January 2022, Institute for Scientist & Engineer Educators (ISEE))

   Seagroves, Scott; Barnes, Austin; Metevier, Anne; Porter, Jason; Hunter, Lisa (Ed.)

   Much of the ISEE Professional Development Program (PDP)’s long-term value arises from participants transferring teaching approaches they develop in the course of designing and facilitating a PDP inquiry activity to other contexts throughout their careers. PDP participants encounter frameworks such as the inquiry framework and the equity and inclusion focus areas, and are encouraged explicitly to become informed consumers of further scholarship on teaching and learning. Many participants resonate especially with the PDP’s emphasis on equity and inclusion in STEM teaching, and meld lessons from the PDP with their lived experiences as well as other scholarship on equity-minded or culturally responsive educational practices. Our panel shares four perspectives on extending lessons from the PDP to new contexts: mentoring students and developing interactive lessons in molecular biology, designing astronomy activities from a culturally relevant and culturally responsive standpoint, incorporating inquiry activities into a large astronomy lecture course, and helping academic programs across a university adopt equity-minded practices for assessing learning outcomes. 

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5. Strengthening STEM Teaching in Rural, Indigenous-Serving Schools through Long-Term, Culturally Responsive Professional Development

   https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13080825  

   Castagno, Angelina E; Dass, Pradeep Max; Joseph, Darold H; Keene, Chesleigh; Macias, Crystal (August 2023, Education Sciences)

   This paper describes a particular teacher professional development model offered in schools on and bordering the Navajo Nation in the southwestern United States. The Diné Institute for Navajo Nation Educators (DINÉ) offers professional development across all content areas and grade levels, but here we focus specifically on our work in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) content areas. Our work is situated explicitly within the literatures on Indigenous education, Native Nation Building, and culturally responsive schooling, but we also draw broadly on research in STEM education and teacher professional development. The research question explored in this paper is: To what extent and in what ways do teachers in the DINÉ develop STEM curriculum units that evidence culturally responsive principles and STEM education best practices? We share findings from three cohorts of teachers in the DINÉ’s STEM-focused professional development seminars. Teacher-authored curriculum units developed in the DINÉ were analyzed with two specific protocols: the CRAIS Tool, and the SCOOP notebook. Finally, we look closely at the curriculum units written by a single teacher in the DINÉ across the three years in order to get a clearer understanding of the nuances and richness of the findings and themes reported from the aggregate data. 

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