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1. Designing for Justice: Preparing Culturally Competent Science and Mathematics Teacher Advocates for High-Need Schools

   Grillo, Monica; Kier, Meredith (April 2022, Innovations)

   In a time when the United States is faced with continued racism and social unrest, it is more important than ever to prepare teachers who can advocate for marginalized students and social justice. This article describes the evolution of a seminar course called Theory and Reality: Practicum in Math and Science Teaching in High-Need Schools within the context of a predominately White teacher-preparation program. Guided by scholars of culturally relevant education and our professional and personal journeys as equity-focused teacher educators, we sought to design experiences to prepare preservice science and mathematics teachers to teach in high-poverty or underfunded schools. Specifically, the course was intended to (1) develop an understanding of pedagogical practices and educational strategies for successful teaching in a high-need school setting, especially in mathematics and science classrooms, and (2) cultivate both cultural self-awareness and cross-cultural consciousness in one’s ability to adapt to the high-need environment in a culturally responsive way. We describe the evolutionary rationale for changes made to course assignments and readings to promote cultural competence and early advocacy skills for teacher candidates interested in teaching in schools facing poverty. We highlight preservice teachers’ reflections that evidence their early conceptualizations of teaching in a high-need school context and how assignments promoted their relationship-building and advocacy skills for marginalized students. 

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2. Enhancing the Cultural Competence of K-12 STEM Teachers through a Global Research Experience

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--45446  

   Pinnell, Margaret; Petry, Leanne; Bohrer, Kelly; Schneider, Kellie; Langston, Marjorie; Generas, Elizabeth (February 2024, ASEE Conferences)

   Intercultural awareness, communication and competence have become critical professional skills. Teachers at all levels need these skills to ensure that all students in their classroom have equitable access to learning, and to effectively prepare their students to engage in an increasingly diverse and multicultural world. The US Department of Education has made broader global skills for students a priority and has charged colleges,and schools to provide new learning opportunities and course work to successfully develop these skills in teachers. Similarly, Some argue that international travel is integral to teacher preparation, encouraging a sense of “otherness” and an appreciation for the role of human difference, addressing misconceptions and stereotypes, and challenging teachers’ understanding of their “professional self.” Additionally, It is well established that the US has a need for enhanced participation as well as increased racial and gender diversity in the STEM Fields, particularly engineering. Teachers are critical to inspire and motivate students to consider pursuing STEM. However, stereotypes, and bias can impact how they engage with students, and who they believe “has what it takes to be an engineer.” Enhancing the cultural competence of teachers can help mitigate the bias and stereotypes, and help ensure more equitable access for students to being inspired to pursue STEM. To address these issues, two regional universities collaborated on a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Teachers grant to provide transformative international and intercultural experiences for teachers focused on human-centered design and appropriate technology for developing countries. Integrated throughout this experience, is professional learning aimed at developing the cultural competence of the teachers, and coaching to help the teachers integrate this learning, as well as their engineering experiences into their classrooms. This paper will summarize key findings from two cohorts of participants with a focus on how this experience impacted the cultural competence of the teachers. 

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3. Expanding Preservice Teachers’ Conceptions of Science Teaching and Learning

   https://doi.org/10.22318/icls2023.103082  

   Metcalf, Allison; Jaber, Lama; Davidson, Shannon (October 2023, Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2023)

   To support students’ sense of belonging in science classrooms, K-12 teachers should recognize and appreciate learners’ diverse experiential, cultural, and linguistic repertoires as valuable resources for sensemaking in science. This approach to teaching necessarily entails expanding what has been traditionally considered as ontologically and epistemologically valid and valued in disciplinary learning spaces so that students’ diverse ways of thinking, talking, and feeling are honored and built upon, rather than dismissed. This study explores the emergence of such expansiveness in the context of STEM preservice teacher education. Using preservice teachers (PSTs)’ written reflections and in-class discussions, we identified different ways in which such expansiveness manifested in PSTs’ discourse. We end with some implications for supporting teachers’ expanding conceptions of science teaching and learning. 

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4. Enhancing the Cultural Competence of K-12 STEM Teachers through a Global Research Experience

   Pinnell, M; Petry, L; Bohrer, K; Schneider, K; Langston, M; Generas, E (February 2024, 2024 Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity (CoNECD))

   Intercultural competence has become a critical skill for most professions, but particularly for those that involve working with people from diverse backgrounds. Teachers at all levels need intercultural competence to ensure that every student in their classroom has equitable access to learning and to effectively prepare their students to engage in an increasingly diverse and multicultural world. The United States Department of Education has made broader global skills for students a priority and has charged colleges and schools with providing new learning opportunities and course work to successfully develop these skills in teachers. Similarly, some argue that international travel is integral to teacher preparation, encouraging a sense of “otherness” and developing an appreciation for the role of human difference, addressing misconceptions and stereotypes, and challenging teachers’ understanding of their “professional self.” Additionally, it is well established that the US has a need for enhanced participation and increased racial and gender diversity in the STEM fields, particularly engineering. Teachers are critical to inspire and motivate students to consider pursuing STEM. However, stereotypes and bias can impact how teachers engage with students, and who teachers believe “has what it takes to be an engineer” leading to differentiated support and encouragement to excluded identities. Enhancing the cultural competence of teachers can help mitigate the bias and stereotypes, and help ensure more equitable access for students to being inspired to pursue STEM. To address these issues, two universities collaborated on a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Teachers grant to provide transformative international and intercultural experiences for teachers focused on human-centered design and appropriate technology for developing countries. Integrated throughout this experience was professional learning aimed at developing the cultural competence of the teachers, and coaching to help the teachers integrate this learning, as well as their engineering experiences, into their classrooms. This paper will summarize key findings from the second cohort participants with a focus on how this experience impacted the cultural competence of the participants. 

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5. Using Vignettes to Elicit Students' Understanding of Dispositions in Computing Education

   https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE58773.2023.10342915  

   McCauley, Renée; Sabin, Mihaela; Kumar, Amruth N; Kiesler, Natalie; MacKellar, Bonnie; Raj, Rajendra K; Impagliazzo, John (October 2023, IEEE)

   Vignettes are short stories along with a set of questions that engage the reader to comment on the story. Vignettes have been used in professional academic programs (e.g., teacher preparation and medical education), for professional development in various fields (e.g., teaching ethics in psychology and medicine), and in various research fields for data collection. In this work, vignettes are used to elicit students' understanding of dispositions in computing education. Professional dispositions enable behaviors that are valued in the workplace, such as adaptability or self-directedness. They are often explicitly stated in computing job postings. While the relevance of dispositions is widely recognized in the workplace, only recently have curricular guidelines for computing programs recognized professional dispositions as an integral part of competencies and as complementary to knowledge and skills. There is scarce literature on the use of vignettes in teaching undergraduate computing, or on how best to foster dispositions in students. In this project, four faculty from four diverse institutions in the U.S., along with three consulting experts, have collaborated to design and evaluate the use of vignettes in the classroom. This paper documents researchers' efforts to gain insights into students' perceptions of dispositions through the use of vignettes. Such insights may guide educators to identify pedagogical strategies for fostering dispositions among students. This paper presents an iterative process for vignette design with continuous review by researchers and focus group members. The vignettes in this study use stories of situations which demonstrate the application of a disposition, drawn from various fields and walks of life to represent diverse groups and experiences. Students are presented with the vignette story and asked to identify the disposition illustrated. To elicit students' understanding of dispositions in terms of their personal behaviors, students are asked to describe a situation in which they have experienced the disposition. Lessons learned in the design and use of vignettes are discussed. 

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