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1. Resisting marginalization with culturally responsive mathematical modeling in elementary classrooms.

   Turner, E. ; Aguirre, J. ; Carlson, M. A. ; Suh, J. ; & Fulton, E. ( January 2024 , ZDM-Mathematics Education)

   Mathematical modeling (MM) - a cyclical process that involves using mathematics to make-sense of and analyze relevant, real-world situations - has the potential to advance equity and challenge spaces of marginalization in the elementary mathematics classroom. When informed by culturally responsive teaching practices, MM creates opportunities to center the knowledge and experiences that students from diverse racial, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds bring to the classroom as valuable resources to support learning and inform action. It can disrupt power and status hierarchies in the classroom that contribute to structural and ideological marginalization. This paper describes ways teachers connected their teaching of MM with key components of a culturally responsive mathematics teaching framework. Analysis synthesizes data from an innovative, research-based professional development for elementary teachers to support teacher learning of equity centered, culturally responsive MM instruction. Data sources include end of year teacher interviews, and professional development discussions from 19 teachers at four geographically, racially, and culturally diverse sites. Findings focus on how teachers connected their teaching of MM with key dimensions of culturally responsive mathematics teaching, and affordances and challenges related to resisting ideological and structural forms of marginalization. 

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2. 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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3. 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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4. 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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5. How Can We Engage in Inclusive, Culturally Responsive Computer Science?

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3287324.3293743  

   Kraemer, Eileen T. ; Sitaraman, Murali ; Che, S. Megan ( January 2019 , Proceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, {SIGCSE})

   In this BoF we discuss the tenets of culturally responsive computer science and how teachers, professors and providers of professional development can include culturally responsive perspectives in their classes. In contrast to other academic fields, which typically include rigid curricular tracks ostensibly based on academic performance, talent, or ability that pose structural barriers to access to rigorous academic instruction for underrepresented students, the field of computer science education is explicitly focused on broadening participation, as evidenced by the SIGCSE community's consistent emphasis on equitable representation. Culturally responsive computing (CRC) is founded on culturally responsive teaching (CRT) and on CRT's three tenets: asset building (in contrast to deficit approaches), reflection, and connectedness. CRC frames these tenets for the specifics of computing education. CRC's tenet that all students are capable of digital innovation should drive teachers' interactions and relationships with students. CRC also requires that teachers be continually reflective about their privilege and constraints and how those are connected with our worldviews. This topic is significant because teachers must be connected to their students in non-traditional ways that prize diversity as an asset to innovation. The participants are expected to include professors, lecturers, high school teachers and industry experts who are interested in employing culturally responsive computing approaches in their own teaching and professional development activities. A major goal of the BoF is to establish connections among the participants to promote the sharing of resources and best practices. 

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