Abstract
The authors of this article argue both the urgency and the promise of establishing a constructive conversation among different bodies of research, including science interest, sociocultural studies in science education, and culturally relevant teaching. With the instructional practices of eight exemplary African American elementary teachers serving their investigative site, they begin to develop a theory for promoting student interest in science. They argue that this emerging theory is distinguishable by three broad propositions: having a genuine interest, scaffolding student interest, and offering multiple standpoints. They further show that their theory based on these three related propositions has provided an important framework to better understand a number of important issues in science education (e.g., early interest in science and hands-on science activities).
Despite the best intentions to promote equity, the science education reform movement has failed to adequately respond to the increasing diversity of the school-age population in the United States (Lynch, Kuipers, Pyke, & Szesze, 2005; Seiler, 2001). For example, although African American students have made gains in enrollments in secondary school science courses as well as bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees awarded in science fields, the Black-White science gaps still persist. African American people constitute 12.2% of the population but only 3.9% of the scientific and engineering labor force (National Science Foundation, 2009).
Unfortunately, research on science education often fails to concurrently address science disciplines and student diversity (Lee, 2005), particularly relating to instructional practices that resonate with students’ interests and cultural dispositions (Noblit, Hwang, Seiler, & Elmesky, 2007; Seiler, 2001; Upadhyay, 2006). This is deeply troubling because (a) interest has been found to have a powerful influence on learning (e.g., attention, persistence, and deep-level learning; Hidi & Renninger, 2006) and career choices (Krapp, 2000; Maltese & Tai, 2010) and (b) many minority students often view the field of science as foreign, distant, inaccessible, boring, irrelevant, and alienating (Basu & Barton, 2007; Lee & Luykx, 2005).
Consequently, there is a critical need to open a new avenue of investigation. One promising starting point is to investigate how exemplary African American teachers promote student interest in science. This type of research is especially important because (a) a sociocultural perspective in science education implies that cultural practices that are socially acquired in fields outside of school may spark and increase student interest in science learning (Elmesky & Seiler, 2007; Upadhyay, 2006) and (b) research on African American education and successful African American teachers indicates that African American students benefit from exposure to African American teachers (Foster, 1997; Irvine, 2003; King, 1993; Villegas & Irvine, 2010).
Student Interest in Science
Students tend to invest in or withdraw from learning, depending on their interest (Singh, Granville, & Dika, 2002). Interest has been found to promote a variety of desirable outcomes in children (Hidi & Renninger, 2006), including persistence (Renninger & Hidi, 2002), task completion (Xu, 2008), and science achievement (Singh et al., 2002).
Interest has also been found to influence future educational opportunities and career choices (Krapp, 2000). Two recent studies further suggest that an interest in science early in children’s lives influences their decision to pursue a science-related career. Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, Tai, Liu, Maltese, and Fan (2006) found that students reporting an interest in science careers in eighth grade were three times more likely to obtain a college degree in a science field than were those who did not show that interest. In another study, Maltese and Tai (2010) examined the experiences reported by 116 scientists and graduate students regarding their earliest interest in science. The majority (65%) of the participants reported that the root of their interest in science took place before their middle school years.
A number of theorists posit that teachers play an important role in promoting student interest through their ongoing support and guidance (e.g., Hidi & Renninger, 2006; Schraw, Flowerday, & Lehman, 2001). For example, Schraw et al. (2001) identified three general strategies for increasing interest in the classroom: (a) offering meaningful choices to students, especially those who display a low interest in the task at hand; (b) carefully selecting well-organized texts; and (c) helping students access appropriate background knowledge.
Specifically, Singh et al. (2002) called for providing more information to students about science subjects and their future use to stimulate their interest in science. They urged the engendering of more positive attitudes (including interest) toward science by promoting better classroom practices and more positive experiences in science learning. These calls are in line with findings from a case study that showed that students can be encouraged to develop an interest in science and want to work for it, even when initially they show little or no interest (Renninger & Hidi, 2002). They are also in line with findings from another study that examined the science identity development of 33 high school students (Aschbacher, Li, & Roth, 2010), which found that those students who were interested in science, engineering, or medicine majors or careers most often attributed this to science teachers who stimulated and inspired their interest in science before or in middle school. However, “it is somewhat surprising that so little work has been done in the context of science classrooms to identify what are the nature and style of teaching and activities that engage students” (Osborne, Simon, & Collins, 2003, p. 1074).
A Sociocultural Perspective in Science Education
Cultural practices that are socially acquired in fields outside of school can mediate student engagement in science (Lee & Luykx, 2005). Many minority students come to school with their cultural practices, and some of these practices (e.g., movement, everyday and expressive modes, and figurative language) may create cultural dissonances for them in light of how school science is typically taught (e.g., in an authoritative, technical, and depersonalized form; Elmesky & Seiler, 2007). Although it is important to not stereotype these cultural practices (e.g., apply them uniformly to all members of an ethnic group), research indicates that, for many minority students, learning science is as much about learning how to cross borders as it is about learning the content (Aikenhead & Jegede, 1999; Barton & Tan, 2009).
Research on diversity in science education is a relatively new and developing field, with most of the work published since the mid-1990s (Lee, 2005). One emerging finding from this line of research is that school science often fails to provide equitable learning opportunities to many marginalized students, relating to curriculum materials, teaching methods, and assessment practices (Bryan & Atwater, 2002; Lee, 2005). Another finding is that learning environments that connect the science disciplines with students’ cultural practices enable students to capitalize on their experiences as intellectual resources for science learning and to construct meanings in ways that relate science to their cultural identities (Lee, 2005).
Little research, however, has focused on how to address the interests of minority students (Basu & Barton, 2007; Seiler, 2001), despite increasing calls to address science standards and construct classrooms that resonate with student interests and cultural dispositions (Noblit et al. 2007; Seiler, 2001). This irony is perhaps not surprising because literature on interest development has primarily grown out of psychological theories of motivation that focus on achievement orientation and personality development (Barron, 2006). Thus, it is not unexpected that this line of psychological research is often inattentive to culture as a moderating factor.
Two rare exceptions to the lack of attention in this area include one study by Seiler (2001) and another study by Basu and Barton (2007). Seiler documented a voluntary science lunch group in which she met with eight African American students once a week to talk about and do science-related activities. Data reveal that the following approaches helped promote these students’ interest in science: (a) linking science to what they liked to do outside school (e.g., playing basketball and drums); (b) jointly planning science activities based on a list of topics and questions that came from them (e.g., the physics of a wrecking ball) and related to things that they knew, could do, and wanted to do; and (c) tapping into their verbal adeptness to forge a science argument (e.g., nutritional value of fast food). Based on a case study of an after-school program, Basu and Barton examined the connections between funds of knowledge that minority youth bring to science learning and the development of science interest. Data reveal that minority youth developed a sustained interest in science when (a) their science experiences connected with how they envisioned their own futures; (b) their learning environments supported the kinds of social relationships they valued; and (c) their science activities supported their sense of agency for enacting their views on the purpose of science.
Although these two studies are promising, they derived from a science lunch group (Seiler, 2001) and an after-school program (Basu & Barton, 2007) rather than a regular part of the formal school science program. In addition, the students in these two studies were not taught by their classroom teachers. As these studies showed potential under more optimal conditions (e.g., researchers had more leeway to decide what they wanted to incorporate into these programs and students had more control over their work), they raised important questions about how to promote student interest in science in regular classroom settings. For example, how do classroom teachers address science interest of minority students in the formal school science programs? How do teachers connect with what their students know and want to do in science?
Culturally Relevant Teaching for African American Students
Identified as a way to promote the academic success of African American and other students historically underserved by the American public school system, the phrase culturally relevant teaching was first introduced by Ladson-Billings in 1992 (H. Coffey, 2008). Other scholars, in their search to connect children’s home culture to the school culture, described this type of teaching in terms such as culturally appropriate (Au & Jordan, 1981), culturally responsive (Gay, 2000), culturally compatible (C. Jordan, 1985), and culturally specific (Irvine, 2002). Taken together, this line of research revealed several key findings regarding the culturally relevant pedagogy of African American educators (Irvine, 2002). They viewed their teaching as telling, guiding, and facilitating mastery of content standards. In addition, they defined their teaching as other mothering and as a calling, as caring and believing, and as demanding the best and disciplining. Recent research on teaching mathematics for cultural relevance further indicates that African American students are eager to engage in mathematical tasks when relevant and meaningful connections are made to their cultural practices (e.g., Leonard, Brooks, Barnes-Johnson, & Berry, 2010; Martin, 2009), implying that culturally relevant and meaningful connections may play an important role in promoting student interest in mathematical learning.
As scholars have begun to fill a void in the research on teaching that previously excluded African American educators, research on exemplary African American teachers (Beauboeuf-Lafontant, 2002; Delpit, 1988; Howard, 2001; Karunungan, 2002; Stanford, 1997) or exemplary teachers of African American students (Brown & Medway, 2007; Ladson-Billings, 1995) has received considerable attention. Most of these studies, however, have focused on culturally relevant pedagogy in general or with reading and writing in particular (Howard, 2001; Karunungan, 2002). In one study, for example, when the effort was made to include one exemplary African American science teacher (Stanford, 1997), African American pedagogical knowledge in science was not the focus of the study. Instead, it sought to examine African American teachers’ successful pedagogy in urban schools in general.
In addition, little research has focused on the perspectives of exemplary African American educators about how to promote student interest in general and with science interest in particular. One exception to this is a study involving one exemplary African American literacy teacher, in which Karunungan (2002) examined the teacher’s perspective on reading instruction. The study found that three key tenets in the teacher’s philosophy included sparking African American students’ interest in reading, listening to them, and adapting her teaching to their needs. Although her strategies for promoting student interest were not the focus of this study, it suggested that there is a benefit to pursue a line of research that focuses on exemplary African American teachers’ perspectives about how to promote student interest.
The Current Study
Taken together, the first line of literature on student interest suggests that (a) science interest is shaped and developed at a relatively young age (e.g., Maltese & Tai, 2010), (b) science interest plays a powerful role in science learning and choosing science-related careers (e.g., Tai et al., 2006), and (c) a teacher plays a critical role in promoting science interest (e.g., Aschbacher et al., 2010). The second line of literature on sociocultural context in science education suggests that the development of science interest is further influenced by cultural dispositions that are socially acquired in fields outside school (e.g., Elmesky & Seiler, 2007; Upadhyay, 2006). However, the second line of literature has not focused on how classroom teachers can promote science interest of minority students, whereas the first line of literature tends to overlook the role of culture as a moderating factor on interest development (Barron, 2006). Finally, the third line of literature on culturally relevant teaching implies that culturally relevant connections may play an important role in promoting student interest (Irvine, 2002; Leonard et al., 2010). However, it is largely limited to culturally relevant pedagogy in general and with reading and writing in particular (Howard, 2001; Ladson-Billings, 1995). In addition, none of the studies on exemplary African American educators has directly examined their perspectives on student interest in science.
The aim of this study is to examine the perspectives of exemplary African American teachers toward promoting student interest in science. Our focus on African American teachers does not imply that African American children should only be taught by African American teachers. Yet research on African American education and successful African American teachers indicates that African American students do benefit from exposure to African American teachers (e.g., school attendance, social and emotional development, enrollment in rigorous classes, and test scores; Foster, 1997; Irvine, 2003; King, 1993; Villegas & Irvine, 2010). Thus, there is a critical need to better understand the benefits that African American science teachers bring because some of these benefits may be a function of potentially sharing common cultural referents with African American children. For example, based on his work of West African and African American cultural history, Boykin (1982, 1994) articulated what he called an “Afrocultural Ethos” that was manifested in the lives of African Americans. He concluded that African American students were better able to meet academic demands when their learning environments presented nine dimensions that were consistent with this ethos (i.e., spirituality, harmony, movement expressiveness, verve, affect, communalism, expressive individualism, orality, and social time perspective).
The common cultural referents, such as those identified by Boykin (1982, 1994), may be invoked more broadly in science classes taught by African American teachers. Consequently, a study of exemplary African American teachers is likely to provide a productive starting point and much needed insights for extending the study of promoting student interest in science. The focus on exemplary African American teachers is especially warranted because of (a) the growing emphasis on science education embodied in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, (b) the lingering racial gaps in science learning and science-related career choice, and (c) the noticeable absence of voices of exemplary African American science teachers from much contemporary research on science education.
Method
Participants
We draw on case studies conducted during the school years from 2008 through 2010. The participants were eight exemplary African American elementary science teachers in the southeastern United States. The identification of these teachers was facilitated by the fact that one of the researchers was an exemplary African American high school science teacher (a recipient of National Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching) and had known these teachers for many years. We identified an initial list of 12 teachers based on the following criteria: (a) awards won (e.g., recipients of Milken Family Foundation National Teacher Award); (b) nomination by administrators, colleagues, and former students; (c) National Board certification; and (d) making a difference in the science achievement of African American students (e.g., their students participated in state science fairs and performed in the upper percentile on state and national assessments).
We ended up with eight participants for two reasons. First, the superintendents of two school districts preferred their teachers to not participate in this study because they were concerned that it would take time from their instructional activities. Second, at the end of 1st year, two teachers moved to different school districts and were unable to continue to participate in this study.
Of the participants, six are female and two are male. As shown in Table 1, their teaching experience varied between 6 years and 35 years, and the grade levels they taught ranged from grades three to six. They taught at eight different schools located in predominantly lower income African American communities, where student enrollment ranged from 289 to 688 students, the percentage of African American students ranged from 45.3% to 97.9%, and the percentage of students qualifying for federal free lunch programs ranged from 42.9% to 90.1%.
Teacher Profile
The eight schools in which these teachers worked had limited science funding and supplies. To address this challenge, the teachers reached out to their communities by asking for donations from big companies (e.g., Coca Cola and General Motors), seeking donations of science materials from local stores (e.g., asking a pharmacist at Walgreens to provide medical bottles with droppers for the unit on acids and bases), writing grants to pay for tickets to science museums, and enlisting community members to pay for science field trips.
Data Collection
To understand how the teachers promoted science interest, we used multiple data sources over 2 years, including (a) three open-ended, in-depth interviews with each teacher (about 120 minutes each), (b) two focus group interviews with the teachers (about 90 minutes each), (c) open-ended observations of classroom interactions, and (d) documents and artifacts.
The open-ended interviews focused on the teachers’ perspectives on how to promote student interest in science. The development of the interviews was informed by the three bodies of literature noted above. Examples of questions are as follows: What strategies do you use to identify student interest in science? How do you see the role of everyday outside-of-school experience’s impact on student interest in science? The interviews also included several questions regarding the role of technology on promoting science learning, as suggested by Dr. Marcia Linn (personal communication, July 17, 2007).
Following these open-ended interviews, focus group interviews asked these participants as a group to reflect on their instructional practices. Examples of questions are as follows: What are the major challenges facing science teaching and learning, particularly for minority students at elementary school level? How do you reach out to students from diverse backgrounds at this developmental stage? How do you nurture, develop, and promote student interest in science?
Open-ended, nonparticipant observations were conducted to document both verbal and nonverbal interactions between students and the teachers during science classes. We scheduled these observations before an open-ended interview with a teacher, which allowed us to make more conscious linkages between these two data sources. During our observations, we gave special attention to how the teachers engaged students in science activities and promoted their science interest (e.g., strategies used by a teacher to trigger student interest in science as well as students’ reactions to these strategies).
We collected relevant documents such as science curriculum materials, science supplies, teacher lesson plans, and student work. We also took digital pictures of classrooms, including classroom settings, student science projects, and models and artifacts made by students.
Data Analysis
Audiotaped interviews were transcribed and checked for accuracy against the original recordings. Following generally established forms of qualitative inquiry, with both inductive and deductive components (Graue, Hatch, Rao, & Oen, 2007), data were analyzed using the constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Xu & Corno, 1998) and the qualitative software NVivo 8. In early analysis, we focused on what specific strategies or approaches the teachers used to promote student interest in science. We examined several excerpts that were similar in language before labeling a category (e.g., incorporating technology). We then examined whether the inclusion of the other related excerpts would change its meaning. In addition, we stayed close to participants’ own language in our coding (e.g., changing from the initial category of “incorporating technology” to one participant’s own words: “incorporating technology into the classroom to bring science to life”).
Other initial codes used in Nvivo 8 were informed by relevant empirical studies on minority students’ interest in science (e.g., making connection, incorporating forms of expression, and using hands-on activities; Basu & Barton, 2007; Seiler, 2001). These codes continued to be revised during our interaction with data (A. Coffey & Atkinson, 1996). For example, as data analysis evolved, we noticed that some participants stressed that, to promote student interest in science, they needed first to have a genuine interest in their work (e.g., science teaching and student interest in science). Thus, we wanted to see if this was a case with other participants. Once we found that it was, we developed this as a broad new theme.
Another broad theme we initially developed was that the teachers used eight strategies to promote student interest in science: making an authentic connection, providing new exposure, giving students some leeway, providing hands-on activities, using technology to bring science to life, keeping an eye on students, offering multiple standpoints, and involving the community. As we reexamined the relationships between these strategies, we found that the multiple standpoints the teachers had in mind often included hands-on activities, technology, multiple forms of expression, and community involvement. We also found that they often offered these multiple standpoints to scaffold student interest in science over time (i.e., connecting authentically, exposing students to new things, encouraging them to take charge, and keeping an eye on them). Consequently, the initial theme relating to eight strategies were subsequently reorganized as two closely related themes (i.e., scaffolding student interest and offering multiple standpoints).
Capitalizing on our various backgrounds (as teacher, teacher educator, academic researcher; man or woman; American or foreign-born; Asian or African American), we were consciously aware of making ourselves open to the cultural repertoire of the exemplary African American teachers (e.g., insider and outsider perspectives). We used triangulation of different data sources to enhance credibility and safeguard against our bias (Yin, 2003). For example, we compared data from field observations with data from interviews to clarify and amplify the meaning of findings (e.g., the use of different forms of expression) from any single source. In addition, triangulation was used not just as a tactic at the end of data collection but more as a strategy to build a chain of evidence while still in the process of data collection (Xu, 2006).
During our data analysis, we used NVivo 8 to create and maintain an audit trail, a detailed record of how and when data were collected (e.g., coded interview transcripts), along with relevant comments made during each step of the data analysis (e.g., memos, links, and annotations). This digital filing system helped to make the process of data analysis more transparent, thereby increasing confidence that the findings are warranted.
Peer debriefing was also used to minimize potential bias (Erickson, 1986). This study was shared with and critiqued by colleagues from diverse cultural backgrounds. Some initial findings were also shared with researchers at professional conferences. In addition, emerging findings were shared with the participants to solicit their responses during the course of the study (e.g., in focus group interviews). Relevant feedback was used to revise the text in instances where they wanted to clarify, elaborate, and expand on information they had shared during the initial interview (e.g., additional strategies to promote student interest in science), and where they wanted to offer rival explanations (e.g., linkages between providing multiple standpoints and fostering science interest). This strategy, member check (Lather, 1986), serves to better reflect and represent the participants’ voices (Lincoln, 1995), and consequently to better capture the perspectives of exemplary African American science teachers.
Having a Genuine Interest in Their Work
To promote student interest in science, the exemplary teachers stressed that they must first have a genuine interest in three interrelated aspects of their work. These included science and science teaching, student interest in science, and their relationship with students.
Interested in Science and Science Teaching
For some teachers, teaching science was at first a necessity and later became something they loved doing. For others, it was something in which they had always been interested. Indeed, Mr. Farr 1 could not conceal his ardent passion: “I love science. I love using my hands. I like to experiment and work with things.” For these teachers, to spark student interest in science, they needed to be interested in science first. Ms. Green explained,
To keep a child’s interest you have to be interested in whatever you’re teaching. I love science. I was out sick when they chose this program and they called me and said, “Would you teach it?” I said, “Yes, because I love science.” So I’ve been teaching it ever since. That’s the key: you have to love what you’re doing. If you don’t, your kids are going to know it. The kids are smart, not only book wise, but street wise. Yes, it takes a whole lot of effort to keep them interested; but first you have to be interested yourself.
Ms. Davis agreed, “They become interested if I’m interested.” For example,
I was out in my yard cutting my grass, and here comes a little ground snake and he got caught up in the lawn mower and chopped up. So I put him in a jar with some vinegar and water. I took him back to school to let the kids see him. Now they bring me all kinds of little some things, four legged creatures and little crawlers . . . and they want to do science.
To some extent, the following comment by Ms. Baker summed up the sentiment of the teachers regarding the role of teacher passion and interest in science teaching:
I use what I call P plus 2C: passion, compassion, and commitment. . . . I let them [my students] see my passion for our activities and what we are trying to do. I also let them know that their work is important to me. This seems to work, because most of my kids seem to really like the class once they get involved in the activities.
Interested in Student Interest in Science
The teachers noted that it was important to be interested in student interest in science and to learn from students about their interests. Ms. Green stated, “You have to take interest in what goes on outside of the classroom as well as what’s inside the classroom.” Ms. Allen made a conscious effort to take interest in what went on outside of the classroom, saying that “I try to visit their churches and community as much as I can, to see what kinds of things they are exposed to” and “we try to connect experience they’ve had with what’s going on in class.”
In addition, the teachers tried to take interest in students’ interests in sciences more directly by empowering them to voice their interests and ideas. Mr. Farr explained,
I asked the class, “What can I do to make this class more interesting, so you all would want to participate more?” One of the things they told was, “We would like to do something other than read.” Now, of course, I couldn’t just let them stop reading—but this is when I started making up games. One was called Guess Who? I got some construction paper and put the definition [of a science word] on the front side and then the word itself on the back. I would say something like, “I am the second layer of the atmosphere. I am just above the thermosphere. Who am I?” They would have to guess which layer it is.
Similarly, Ms. Green noted that she would “let them [her students] see what we plan to do and see if they are interested”:
I showed them pictures of the ecosystem from previous years. I asked them if they liked and wanted to participate. They got all excited about it because they wanted to know “How is it the fish can live in there?” “Why does it stay in there?” I said, “It stays in the water, but there’s something that’s keeping it alive.” I wouldn’t tell them everything because I wanted to keep their interest, to figure out what was keeping the fish alive.
Interested and Invested in a Caring and Trusting Relationship With Students
To make students interested in science learning, the teachers found it critically important to take a personal interest in building a caring and trusting relationship with them. Ms. Earl stated that “children need to know that you care about them.” She added,
One thing that has been successful for me in my classroom is that I have a relationship with my students where they trust me. They know that even if I get on to them, I still love them and have their best interest at heart from the beginning.
For many teachers, their interest in developing a relationship with students went to a much deeper level; they treated students as their own biological children. Mr. Farr elaborated:
Obama becoming President has made some change [in the African American thinking], but still a lot of African Americans have been oppressed for so long it’s like a lot of times they feel like they just don’t want to try. I’ve even heard some students say, “Nobody is going to do anything for me, nobody is going to help me with anything, so why should I even try?” That’s a big problem. So I try to steer them in a better direction than the one that they’ve allowed themselves to go in. I let them know they’re my children. I talk to them like a parent, father to son, father to daughter. I’ve even had kids start calling me “daddy.” When they see that you care for them and that you’re concerned about their well being, then a lot of times you can get them to do anything you want them to do, as far as their lessons are concerned.
Specifically, as illustrated in the comments by Ms. Earl and Mr. Farr, the teachers saw the importance of establishing a caring and trusting relationship to sustain student in interest in science. This is because, as noted by Ms. Green, many things can “deter the child from wanting to learn.” She explained after one classroom observation:
I had a little girl whose uncle died this morning. He was only 39, and he died of cancer. She was so upset, and I knew something was wrong, because she came into the classroom with her eyes all red. So I said, “I know you’re not OK. I need you to tell me what’s wrong.” It’s just like when I’m sick, they all know it. I tell them, “You’re mine, all of you are mine. As long as you’re in this classroom, you’re my responsibility, and you’re mine. If there’s anything ever bothering you, you need to let me know.”
Other teachers echoed this view. Mr. Harris commented specifically from his perspective as an African American science educator:
It takes a village to raise a child. So from an African American standpoint when I have students come to my classroom, I assume a certain level of responsibility for them. I become a positive father figure for some of them who do not have fathers at home. I try to go the extra mile to help them to understand they have a wonderful opportunity in front of them, and that is to get an education. . . . They have to be the first ones to get excited about what they are doing, because they will face some challenges in their lives just by virtue of the way they look, the way they talk, and the way they dress. I want them to be prepared for all these things.
Scaffolding Student Interest in Science
In addition to having a genuine interest in their work, the teachers used a range of strategies to scaffold student interest in science. These strategies included (a) making an authentic connection, (b) providing new exposure, (c) encouraging students to take charge, and (d) keeping an eye on them.
Making an Authentic Connection
As noted in the previous section, to create an atmosphere of acceptance, caring, and trusting, it is important that the teachers were engaged in students’ lives. Such an engagement enabled them to build knowledge of students’ lives, particularly in relation to their science interest. This knowledge then enabled the teachers to better connect sciences to students’ daily lives to trigger their science interest. Ms. Allen elaborated how she built and applied this knowledge to make an authentic connection to promote her students’ interest in science.
I try to look at anything they’ve done in their lives: the games they like to play, the songs they like to sing, the experiences they’ve had coming through Head Start. I try to put in something that they already know about, to show them that the new concept that we’re learning is related to this, but then goes a few steps farther. With every new unit I start, I try to get some everyday situations that they can use as a springboard to go into the lesson. I also try to get some interactive situation whether it’s something the students can use with their hands, or some kind of game they can play. Once you do that, you can always refer back to that beginning activity. That gets them interested in what they’re doing; and they’re waiting to see what the next activity is going to be.
Similarly, Ms. Carson noted the importance of authentic connection, arguing that in order for a child to see how interesting science is, “Science must connect to their daily lives with regard to: ‘Why is this important to me? Why must I know this? How is this going to help me? Or how does this impact me?’”
In addition, the teachers noted the importance of making an authentic connection to sustain student interest in science; as students started to make meaningful connections, they wanted “to continue the conversation.” For example, to foster curiosity about what kept a fish alive, Ms. Green asked her students to relate to a fish tank at home:
I ask, “If you put something on top of the container and close it off, can the fish survive, with just a plant and water?” They replied, “Oh, I didn’t think about it that way.” Then I say, “Yeah, you have to think about it. If you close the container up and you’ve given it everything that it needs, will it survive? And for how long?” So I get some of the kids to say that they’re going to make one for themselves.
For other teachers, making an authentic connection was accorded a more prominent role. For example, Ms. Earl stated,
Many students don’t seem to be concerned about learning material that pushes them to think, inquire, or use process skills. . . . It is my job to find new and interesting ways to combat this growing epidemic. I try to relate math and science, as well as other subjects, to real life situations where they will be applicable. Making an authentic connection is sometimes the only way to reach some students.
Providing New Exposure
The teachers found that some students had limited school science and so they did not show much interest at first, and that providing new exposure played an important role in stimulating their desire to learn science. Ms. Allen observed,
For a lot of the topics, when you start to introduce to them and by the ways that they are introduced, you see sometimes a spark light up in their eyes. They have a lot of questions inside of them that they want to ask.
Mr. Harris agreed:
Last year we had an opportunity to expose students to building a robot. . . . They were very interested in not only building it, but programming it to see that it could do different things. So this is an example of something that they had not made before; and after they built one, they were very excited about and interested in that.
Thus, as argued by Ms. Allen, “from the standpoint of being a minority and understanding that they have not had prior experience with a lot of things,” it is particularly important to give them “as much new exposure as possible.” Accordingly, the teachers tried to provide new exposure to evoke students’ interest in science, by using hands-on activities, physical or virtual trips, guest speakers, and popular science magazines.
Another important aspect of new exposure was related to science vocabulary words. Ms. Green commented after one classroom observation, “Just like the lesson today, a lot of the kids had never even heard of the word niche. Science vocabulary is a big issue.” She added, “That’s why I had so many words posted around our room.” During our classroom observations, we found science vocabularies posted on virtually every square inch Ms. Green could find on her classroom walls. For example, on one wall she displayed four columns of words mostly related to the scientific method, including hypothesis, experiment, investigation, and conclusion. She even used the back of her classroom door, where she displayed three columns of words from the life science, including invertebrate, food chain, photosynthesis, and habitat.
In addition, to make new science words more meaningful, relevant, and interesting, the teachers would use these words in kid-friendly language, encouraging them to own the words. Mr. Harris said he would move back and forth between “the slang version and the technical version,” so that “whenever they came across a word in a science context they would have a natural understanding of the word versus the book definition.”
Encouraging Students to Take Charge
To foster student interest in science, the teachers further pointed to the importance of encouraging students to take charge in the learning processes. Ms. Allen stated, “I try to encourage them to pick an area—not something that they already know a lot about, but one that they would want to know more about.” She also drew up a list of topics that students could either “pick from” or that allowed them “some variation and still give them some input in what they select, so that they learn some extra things outside of what we’re doing in class.”
In addition, the teachers encouraged students to use a form of expression with which they were comfortable. Mr. Harris recalled,
When we turned to do a unit on natural resources, the students wanted to do something totally different. So I told them, go ahead and do it. They prepared the content themselves and put it into a musical form. A couple of boys made a rap song out of it. I listened to it first to make sure that it was “clean” and it was going to convey the message that they wanted to convey. Then I gave them a stage, with an audience of their peers. I did a few of the musical backgrounds and different things like that on my Promethean board. They took it, ran with it, and did an excellent job.
During a classroom observation, students in Ms. Green’s science class were observed singing a rap song on water cycle that they composed in a previous class. They appeared to be very excited about the song. As soon as Ms. Green projected the song lyrics on a big screen from her computer, students immediately turned their head to the screen as if none of them wanted to be left behind for their big performance.
Just hangin’ with my molecules, chillin’ to the lake We’re cool, we’re water ’till the sun starts to bake Now we’re feeling kinda hot, yeah, we’re feeling kinda warm We’re feeling kinda strange, we’re gonna change our form. Water vapor Evaporation Water vapor Evaporation. Trees, shrubs, and plants just hangin’ by the road They’re feeling kinda full, so they let some water go. Transpiration Water from plants Transpiration Water from plants. Now we’re hangin’ to the atmosphere, hangin’ with our friends We got to get together, we got to condense. Condensation Now we are some clouds Condensation Now we are some clouds. Getting crowded into the clouds, it can be a big pain I gotta get out now I’m turning into rain. Now we’re back to where we started, now we’re back where we began We’ll start the process up, we’ll begin all again. The water cycle The water cycle.
In other cases, the students were allowed to choose their group partner. Mr. Harris noted that he would give his students “the liberty to choose their group partner.”
When students work with someone else, they can see different perspectives. It also gives them a chance to talk about science content they may not be familiar with, or science content outside of the classroom. It gives them a chance to talk about science which would lead into other discussions. It also helps them expand their science vocabulary.
Keeping an Eye on Students
While encouraging students to take charge in the learning processes, the teachers were keeping an eye on students to foster and fuel their interest in science. Ms. Allen stated,
Now a lot of time because of the level that they’re on, I have to do a little guiding to get them there—but as much as possible I try to get them to look at things more deeply on their own than they’ve done in the past. Just ask them another question that leads to another question, to try to get them to figure it out because if they can figure it out, it means a lot more to them.
Other times, however, a student may switch from being productive to just wanting to sit there and to do nothing. Thus, the teachers kept an eye on their students to protect and sustain their interest. After one classroom observation, Ms. Green noted,
You saw me standing over him because if I don’t, he’ll lose interest. I just have to keep an eye on him because if I don’t give him that look, like “do your work,” he will just sit there and pretend he’s doing something when he really isn’t. . . . I treat them like they’re my own children, yet [I tell them] you still have to do your academics. . . . Not achieving doesn’t make me love you any less, but it makes me work harder to get you to the point where I want you to be.
Mr. Harris similarly noted that some students “just laid their heads down or just looked all around and didn’t seem to be interested in the lesson.” So he would ask them to become his assistants, to communicate information to other students. Thus, to sustain and enhance student interest, he gave these students “some level of responsibility.” He recalled,
Sometimes I give students a special topic to do research on, so that they can share the information they find with the class. That gets them doing research and actively involved in the lesson because they’re interested in it; they don’t see it as work, they see it as something that they are interested in, and that they can share with somebody else what they are interested in. A lot of them love to teach their brothers and sisters if they have any or they love to teach their classmates. So I just give them that opportunity and let them know that this is what I want you to do: do the research, get the information, learn the content, then share with the class.
Offering Multiple Standpoints
The previous section focuses on how the teachers scaffolded student interest in science over time, but this section taps into how they provided multiple standpoints to reach out to their students at any given time. For example, the teachers often used multiple standpoints to making an authentic connection. In her unit on different body systems, for example, Ms. Allen used multiple standpoints to promote student interest in science, including technology, songs, and hands-on activities:
We use CDs, we have songs about this because the students love to sing. It gets the parts in their mind and allows them to see those parts on paper that we start to cover. We also have DVDs that cover these different systems. Then, we go to the book and use the content material there to supplement what they learned from the DVDs and CDs. We also have a skeleton on display in class, which they can take apart and put back together to help them learn these parts. As we cover the different systems, we also discuss certain diseases that are prevalent in our community, like high blood pressure, diabetes, and treatments like dialysis, because they’ve heard of these terms. They may not know what dialysis is, but they know it’s about sugar; and I try to relate science words to what they already know. I tell them even when you go to the doctor the first thing they ask you is, why did you come in today? The more you can explain to doctors, the quicker they can decide what’s actually wrong with you. So, you can not only help yourself, but other family members who are there with you.
For the purpose of presentation, we grouped these standpoints under the following categories: (a) hands-on activities, (b) technology, (c) different forms of expression, and (d) community involvement. In reality, however, the teachers often used multiple standpoints at the same time to promote student interest in science, as evident in the example provided above.
Providing Hands-On Activities
The teachers viewed hands-on activities as one of the important standpoints to “hook” student interest in science. First, hands-on activities make science concepts more relevant and accessible to students with limited science experiences than do approaches based on decontextualized textbook knowledge (Lee, 2005), particularly for many students who had difficulty with reading. Mr. Farr observed, “A lot of these kids here don’t like to read because they have trouble pronouncing words, and they don’t want to be embarrassed with other kids. . . . But they want to work with their hands.”
Second, hands-on activities provide students with a sense of autonomy. Ms. Earl found that “most students prefer hands-on activities that allow them the freedom to be scientists, explorers, and researchers. Students enjoy these activities more than book based assignments alone.” Mr. Farr described how he used hands-activities in his class:
I like to do the reverse of what a lot of teachers do. I give my children instructions for a hands-on project in science. They make a model of something, then we find out all the terms that go with this, and then they describe in writing what they have created. This week we made a model of the galaxies, so they actually got to see what they were doing, what they were going to be learning about and talking about. It seems to have a really profound effect on them. They feel they have ownership of something they have done and are more interested in what they have done.
Third, hands-on activities provide opportunities for students to learn by discovering, to stimulate their interest in science. Mr. Harris recalled,
I had students go out and put some sand in a pail. Then we put some sand in one bowl and some rocks in another bowl, and filled both of them up with water. They found out that the water made it to the bottom a lot quicker in the bowl with rocks in it than in the one with sand. So I used this as a hook to get them thinking, “This is how the bottom of a river is, how water is absorbed at the bottom of a riverbed. If you have a riverbed that had sand and clay in it, it’s going to take a longer time for the water to seep through versus a riverbed that has a whole bunch of rocks.” I try to use as much as hooks like this as possible to get students interested in science.
Finally, for some teachers, “hands-on is a very explicit key to many African American children to learn science.” Ms. Green explained,
From the way that we grew up, we basically had to learn from life about how life operates—and as I said before, science is life. It exposes you to everything that’s in life. Growing up and being outdoors most of the time, having to work for everything you have, and experiencing the outdoors—all of that becomes a part of you. A big part of science is being exposed to the outdoors and seeing nature as it really is, looking for patterns and ways to make things better. All of that is what science is grounded on.
Incorporating Technology to Bring Science to Life
The teachers concurred with Ms. Carson’s view that “technology is a primary source in developing student interest in science.” Mr. Harris gave an example of what he did in his class:
I have Promethean software in my classroom. I take science content out of the book and make multiple choice questions, to prepare them for a test. Then I have gadgets that they call acti-votes. After I’ve reviewed the lesson, I’ll put a question on the screen and they’ll vote on what they think the answer is, and then we take the time to talk about the question and answers.
He found that this approach helped to hold student interest in science: “I get questions all the time now, ‘When are we going to play acti-votes? When are we going to do the quiz show?’” Similarly, Ms. Allen used games with science questions to spur student interest in science:
One such game that we like to do is “Who Wants to be a Millionaire for Science?” where the students pass through various states like “What Wants to be a Millionaire?” that was on TV. But I tell them that not everything we do in class is going to be a game and they have to keep things in perspective. Still, these games make science interesting for them.
In addition, as noted by Ms. Allen, “technology can bring science to life,” in the sense that “we can use technology to bring the world closer to them. We can use technology to show them what’s going on in other places in the world, and how all of that is tied into what they’re learning here.” In particular, they noted that technology (e.g., the smart board, animation, simulation, streaming video, digital camera, and microscope) provided students with “multiple opportunities to hear the concept and to see the concept.”
In other cases, some teachers found it important to attend to student interest in science while addressing certain misconceptions associated with technical inventions. Mr. Harris noted,
Video games tend to create a whole lot of interest. However, I have to help them understand the differences between the fantasy and reality. Sometimes video games create a lot of misconceptions. For example, one video game may show persons riding on top of a car, and then they fall off the car. In the video game they get back up and keep going as if nothing happened. But in the real world, they’re going to have broken bones, or maybe even lose their lives. So you have to help them understand that what they play on video games is not as real as it seems. We have some strong discussions about those particular concepts, but at the same time this gets students interested in what we’re talking about.
Encouraging Different Forms of Expression
Along with hands-on activities and technology, the teachers encouraged different forms of expression to spark student interest in science. Ms. Davis, for example, incorporated a song on the skeletal system and a rap for the solar system in her class, similar to students’ rap song about the water cycle in Ms. Green’s class (mentioned above).
In addition, the teachers saw the value of group interaction in fostering student interest in science as well as in understanding their students better as whole persons. Mr. Harris explained:
With group discussion, students always produce some interesting answers. It also gives them a chance to interact verbally. . . . It’s not just about how well they understand the content, I’m also looking at the whole person, to see how they interact, how they respond to each other and with adults around them. Sometimes when we have group discussions, I would put one side against the other side. I let one side start with an opening argument, and then let the rest on that side weigh in whatever they want to say. For the opposite group, I would give them a chance to respond. I tell them to look for something that they may have not understood or ask more in-depth questions. I only use myself as a last resort, saying, “Well, if you can’t come to an agreement, then you can ask the expert. And that’s me.” If I can’t answer a question, I encourage them to do more research. I explain to them this is what scientists do whenever they have a question about something.
Similarly, Mr. Farr commented how he approached group work and movement in his classes:
I had students stand beside their desks and find a partner in the class, so they could share with the partner what they learned. I might say, “If you know the definition of what a severe storm is, clap one time. If you’re not sure, clap two times.” You may have one or two students clap two times, then the rest of the class will turn to them and tell them in unison the definition. I teach them about the Earth spinning on its axis by having them stand up and turn in a circle. I told them that once you get dizzy you’re tilting. That was one of our questions on our test about Earth rotating and tilting on its axis and they kept missing it. So I had to figure out a way to relate it to something that they could do; and when they turn around in a circle and get dizzy, then they see how this relates to the Earth rotating and tilting.
Movement, rhythm, dance, music, and group work dominated many of our examples and are described as ways of being that many African American children often value and enact in out-of-school settings (Boykin, 1982, 1994; Seiler & Elmesky, 2007).
Involving the Community
The teachers emphasized the importance of community involvement in promoting student interest in science. They found that students often looked forward to listening to community members (e.g., people knowledgeable about science and industry) talking about their experiences, and who sometimes became “more exciting teachers.” They found that students tended to understand science content better when they had opportunities to listen to community members to talk about the same topic from a different perspective. Ms. Earl stated,
The community is a huge factor in my classes. I appreciate the community and look for ways to include the community. Whenever I see the need, I invite various professionals to share their experiences with our students and allow them to demonstrate whenever it’s feasible. Students need to see other individuals who are interested in their subject matter. It gives them a greater appreciation for the sciences and their own learning.
Likewise, Ms. Baker commented, “I like to involve the community.” She explained,
Bringing in speakers to talk to the students is another really interesting thing that you can do with your classes, because it gives students a chance to see a diverse range of individuals in the community who are making a difference.
The teachers also tried to make science more interesting by encouraging students to share with their families what they had learned in class. For example, Ms. Carson stated, “I want families involved from the sense that I want science to be interesting,” because “many science concepts can foster great discussions among family members.”
In addition, the teachers tried to make science more engaging by connecting students to authentic scientific practices in the larger science community with which they could identify. For example, Ms. Baker asked students to participate an event called “Black Science Museum,” when they reviewed a large selection of African American scientists. The students decided to focus on Dr. Phillip Emeagwali, “The Unsung Hero behind the Internet.” They used computers to collect data from websites (e.g., www.emeagwali.com) on the scientist and his family. They designed a display board and arranged the data and pictures on the board. Finally, they presented and shared their findings with their peers in other classes. They later found that only a few of the other students had any knowledge of Dr. Emeagwali and his role in helping to create the Internet.
Toward a Theory of Promoting Science Interest
This study examines how exemplary African American elementary science teachers promoted student interest in science. In line with literature on interest in general (e.g., Hidi & Renninger, 2006; Schraw et al., 2001) and with science interest in particular (e.g., Aschbacher et al., 2010; Maltese & Tai, 2010), this study points to the important role that teachers play in promoting student interest in science through ongoing scaffolding and guidance.
The research on exemplary African American educators highlights the importance of viewing teaching as calling and as caring (e.g., Ladson-Billings, 1995; Irvine, 2002). Consistent with this line of scholarship, findings from this study further reveal that building a caring and trusting relationship with students plays an important role in promoting student interest in science. Specifically, in line with the observation that teachers can attract interest if they model enthusiasm about topics they teach (Bergin, 1999; Pickens & Eick, 2009), our findings provide empirical support to this observation by suggesting that teacher interest can trigger, stimulate, and fuel students’ interest and their desires to learn science.
In addition, our findings on science interest correspond with seven of the nine dimensions in Boykin’s Afrocultural Ethos (1982, 1994), including affect, expressive individualism, verve, harmony, communalism, orality, and movement. For example, regarding affect, the teachers valued personal relevance and interest (e.g., making an authentic connection and different forms of expression). The interactive nature of science instruction (e.g., encouraging students to share with and learn from their peers, their families, and community members) matches another dimension referred to as communalism (social interconnectedness, sharing, and collectivism). Multiple standpoints offered by the teachers (e.g., using movement and raps to explore and explain science concepts) matches one dimension labeled movement (rapping and dancing).
It is important to note that this study has integrated, broadened, and extended related literature in the field. As we examined the perspectives of these exemplary African American teachers and as we examined the three major themes discussed in the previous section, we began to develop a grounded theory of how to promote student interest in science. We argue that a theory of promoting science interest includes the following three propositions. First, teachers need to have a genuine interest in science and science teaching as well as a desire to stimulate a similar interest in science in their students and to bond with their students in such a way that they know their teachers care deeply about them, their interests, and their progress. Second, teachers need to explicitly scaffold student interest in science, including making an authentic connection, providing new exposure, encouraging students to take charge, and keeping an eye on them. Third, teachers need to provide multiple standpoints to reach out to their students, including providing hands-on activities, integrating technology to bring science to life, encouraging different forms of expression, and involving the community (see Figure 1).
A theory of promoting science interest.
Of particular importance is that these three propositions are closely related, which the previous literature (i.e., on science interest in general, with African American students in particular) has not addressed. For these exemplary teachers, to promote student interest in science, it is critically important to first have a genuine interest in their work and to create an atmosphere of acceptance and caring as well as an atmosphere of valuing science and science interest. Indeed, during our interviews relating to science interest, one typical comment from the teachers was that “students do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Thus, from these teachers’ perspectives, students do not care how much a teacher knows and does to promote their interest in science (i.e., scaffolding student interest and offering multiple standpoints) until they know how much a teacher cares about them, science teaching, their interest in science learning, and has their best interest in mind and at heart.
Although the teachers’ having a genuine interest serves to build an atmosphere of acceptance, caring, and valuing science interest, it is important that teachers do not stop there. Instead, teachers need to consciously take another important step forward by strategically scaffolding student interest in science. They need, for example, to apply what they know about students and their science interest as a springboard to better cultivate their interest in science, by incorporating student interest in science activities, and by encouraging students to take charge in the learning process while keeping an eye on them.
Whereas scaffolding student interest in science focuses on different strategies teachers may use to promote student interest in science over time, our findings further suggest that these strategies can be better accomplished by providing multiple standpoints simultaneously. For example, making an authentic connection and encouraging students to take charge can be better achieved by using multiple entry points such as hands-on activities (e.g., manipulative and experiments), technology (e.g., physical or virtual trips), different forms of expression (e.g., movement, rap songs, and group work), and community involvement (e.g., brining in scientists in the community, parents, and former students).
Furthermore, scaffolding student interest through offering multiple standpoints can further serve to build an atmosphere of acceptance and appreciation of science interest at the class level. This linkage is illustrated in comments by many teachers. For example, Mr. Harris observed, “The more students are exposed, the more they become interested in the content they are going to be learning.” The more interested students become in the learning process, the more they want to do science and continue the conversation about science, particularly when they are provided with a sense of autonomy about what they want to know more about, along with many standpoints with which they can identify (e.g., hands-on activities and rap songs).
Our emerging theory, based on three related propositions, provides an important framework to better understand a number of important issues in science education. Recently, based on their interviews with scientists and graduate students, Maltese and Tai (2010) found that most of the participants indicated their initial interest in science occurred prior to entering middle school. The authors challenged the long-standing assumption that improving student understanding of scientific principles would lead to greater numbers of scientists in the pipeline. They argued that “it is crucial to improve the nurturing of young students showing interest” (p. 683). In their conclusion, they suggested that that inclusion of a variety of learning activities, an engaging classroom environment, and allowing the student to feel comfortable asking questions may play a positive role in improving student interest in science. Thus, our study has extended the work by Maltese and Tai by focusing on how to nurture young students’ interest in science. The systematic in-depth study of the perspectives of the African American exemplary teachers revealed a more nuanced picture of what it entails to promote science interest in regular classroom settings (as evident in three broad interrelated propositions discussed above).
In line with the theoretical claim of the role of exposure in the development of interest (Bergin, 1999), our study takes an important step forward by pointing out the value of providing new exposure to promote student interest in science for many African American students. This finding is important because the level of science knowledge has been found to be lower among many African American students as compared with White, affluent peers (Wenner, 2003). Specifically, this study suggests that, to provide more relevant and meaningful new exposure (one of the strategies regarding the proposition of scaffolding science interest), teachers need to situate this strategy in the context of the other two related propositions (i.e., having a genuine interest and offering multiple standpoints). In other words, having a genuine interest in their work (i.e., in science and science teaching, student interest in science, and their relationship with students) allows them to go the extra mile to build personal knowledge of students’ lives and their interest in science. This knowledge further enables teachers in a better position to provide more pertinent new exposure. In addition, the strategy of providing new exposure can be better achieved to develop student curiosity and interest in science through offering multiple standpoints (e.g., hands-on activities, technology, and different forms of expression).
Much has been written about the use of hands-on science activities in general and with minority students in particular (Lee, 2005; Noblit et al., 2007). The American Educational Research Association (2007), in one of its Research Points, commented that “simply providing ‘hands-on’ science activities without careful guidance is not sufficient” (p. 4). In their forum on culturally responsive discourses in science education, Noblit et al. (2007) argued,
“These kids need a hands-on approach” speaks of race and cultural misunderstanding. . . . If one looks closely at kids, then styles of movement are deeply cultural productions. Hands-on learning doesn’t even get close to this, and in fact is not culturally responsive at all by comparison. Maybe it is better understood as a strategy of Whiteness. (p. 107)
The exemplary African American teachers in our study emphasized the importance of using a hands-on approach to hook students’ interest in science (e.g., by making science concepts more relevant, meaningful, and accessible to many young African American students with limited science experiences and with early reading difficulty). Thus, we have reservations about the argument that a hands-on approach is better understood as a strategy of Whiteness. On the other hand, we agree that it is important to contextualize the hands-on approach. Our emerging theory posits that hands-on activities could be used as one of the multiple important standpoints to scaffold student interest in science (e.g., providing new exposure and encouraging students to take charge), particularly when it was simultaneously used with other standpoints such as technology and multiple forms of expression. It further suggests that, for hands-on activities to be meaningful and beneficial, teachers need to have a genuine interest in science and science teaching, in student interest in science, and in their relationship with students.
Conclusions and Implications
We began this article by arguing both the urgency and the promise of establishing a constructive conversation among different bodies of research (i.e., student interest in science, sociocultural studies in science education, and culturally relevant teaching for African American students). With the instructional practices of eight exemplary African American teachers serving our investigative site, we began to develop a theory for promoting student interest in science learning. We argued that this emerging theory is distinguishable by three broad propositions with respect to having a genuine interest, scaffolding student interest, and offering multiple standpoints. We further showed that our emerging theory based on these three interrelated propositions has provided an important framework to better understand a number of important issues in science education (e.g., early interest in science and hands-on science activities).
Because this study is the first to examine the perspectives of exemplary African American teachers regarding student interest in science, future research is needed on several fronts. First, because no study has been conducted previously with exemplary African American teachers about how to promote student interest in science, it would be important to examine the perspectives of exemplary African American teachers in other settings. This line of research is particularly important because limited science equipment and supplies, in some cases, forced the teachers in our study to adopt a textbook orientation for learning science. In addition, there is a need to examine the perspectives of exemplary African American teachers toward science interest at the secondary school level because student interest in science may be influenced by developmental differences, relating to students’ identity, thinking level, and vision for the future (Basu & Barton, 2007; Renninger, 2009). Finally, future research would benefit from more systematic theorizing about conditions that enable and support teachers to spark and sustain minority students’ interests in science (e.g., science resources) and about the relationship between attending to student interest in science and larger efforts to change the cultures of science teaching (e.g., an environment of caring, valuing, and cultivating student interest in science).
Within the context of current policy debates, W. J. Jordan (2010) observed that “having knowledge of a subject trumps having the ability as a practitioner to meaningfully engage children in the learning process” (p. 153) and that “authentic knowledge of how the world works, or relevant insights which can spark interest among students, seldom enters into the classroom” (p. 159). Similarly, Maltese and Tai (2010) found that national science reform initiatives often center on improving student achievement or increasing enrollment in advanced science courses at the secondary level rather than on engaging young children in science. Consequently, a study such as this is especially important and timely because it (a) points to the need to reframe the larger conversation about cultural dispositions, student interest in science, and planning early for careers in science and (b) provides broad propositions and practical strategies, along with vivid and illustrative examples, about how to make science more engaging and interesting, particularly for many African American children. Finally, this line of research should prove to be valuable because many elementary schools across the country are struggling to provide high-quality science education that engages an increasingly diverse body of young children to turn them on to, and not off from, science.