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Abstract We find ourselves at a time when the need for transformation in science education is aligning with opportunity. Significant science education resources, namely the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the Ambitious Science Teaching (AST) framework, need an intentional aim of centering social justice for minoritized communities and youth as well as practices to enact it. While NGSS and AST provide concrete guidelines to support deep learning, revisions are needed to explicitly promote social justice. In this study, we sought to understand how a commitment to social justice, operationalized through culturally sustaining pedagogy (Paris, Culturally sustaining pedagogies and our futures.The Educational Forum, 2021; 85, pp. 364–376), might shape the AST framework to promote more critical versions of teaching science for equity. Through a qualitative multi‐case study, we observed three preservice teacher teams engaged in planning, teaching, and debriefing a 6‐day summer camp in a rural community. Findings showed that teachers shaped the AST sets of practices in ways that sustained local culture and addressed equity aims: anchoring scientific study in phenomena important to community stakeholders; using legitimizing students' stories by both using them to plan the following lessons and as data for scientific argumentation; introducing local community members as scientific experts, ultimately supporting a new sense of pride and advocacy for their community; and supporting students in publicly communicating their developing scientific expertise to community stakeholders. In shaping the AST framework through culturally sustaining pedagogy, teachers made notable investments: developing local networks; learning about local geography, history, and culture; building relationships with students; adapting lessons to incorporate students' ideas; connecting with community stakeholders to build scientific collaborations; and preparing to share their work publicly with the community. Using these findings, we offer a justice‐centered ambitious science teaching (JuST) framework that can deliver the benefits of a framework of practices while also engaging in the necessarily more critical elements of equity work. 

As a result of more recent events connected to the ongoing and lasting legacy of systemic racism in our society and the sparsity of research focused on both disciplinary teacher leadership (TL) and centering social justice and equity in teacher leadership literature reviews, this research investigated the ways in which science teacher leadership (STL) emerged in the context of a science department engaged in a year‐long professional learning experience aimed at teaching science for social justice. Drawing on a community of practice teacher leadership identity model as a theoretical framework and qualitative research methods, we sought to characterize STL that centered social justice. Written teacher reflections, semi‐structured interviews, and science lessons were collected from the six female science teachers and a female school administrator. The research revealed how STL supportive of teaching science for social justice was grounded in, among other characterizations of teacher leadership, competences like content and pedagogical knowledge, performances like inclusiveness and lesson design, and support from the structure of the year‐long professional learning, and engagement in a community of practice. This research provides insights into the complex characterization and emergence of STL. 

Overview Project teacher Emily Lisay describes a lesson she taught which spanned several days in a high school anatomy class and was based on the NGSS standard HS-LS1-2, during the second semester of the school year. Throughout the year, the class used public health and social justice data to explore equity in science and medicine. The main goal was for students to observe connections between scientific principles (the structure and the function of the respiratory system) and social issues, specifically the effects of climate change on human health. I also wanted them to consider possible solutions. This activity was built on students’ knowledge of the cardiovascular system, some basic knowledge of other body systems, and some background on climate change and its causes. The lesson was designed so that minimal resources (newsprint, markers, and internet access) would be needed.