Tag Archives: #CulturallyResponsiveEducation

The development of a model of culturally responsive science and mathematics teaching

The development of a model of culturally responsive science and mathematics teaching by Cecilia M. Hernandez, Amand R. Morales and M. Gail Shroyer

I chose to read this paper as it pertained to Culturally Responsive Education (CRE) in mathematics and science. The purpose of the paper was to conduct a “qualitative theoretical study” (p. 803) of “preparation and assessment of teacher candidate for culturally responsive teaching” (p. 803). The paper was written in 2013 and the researchers did an excellent job of providing a comprehensive review of literature of CRE. The researchers determined the need for CRE was due to a large increase of Hispanic Latino/a students within the school system they studies. Even though the study focused on a different cultural group I felt the paper was worth reading as it research the subject matter I was interested in for CRE. The authors defined a CRE model to include 5 themes: (1) content integration: “the inclusion of content from many cultures” (p. 810), (2) facilitating of knowledge construction: “ critical, independent thinkers who are open to other ways of knowing (P. 810), (3) prejudice reduction: teacher’s ability to use contextual factors to approach to build a positive, safe classroom environment…(p. 810), (4) social justice: “a teacher’s willingness ‘to act as agents of change’” (p. 810), and (5) academic development: “teacher’s ability to ‘create opportunities in the classroom” that aid all students in developing as learners to achieve academic success…”(p. 810). What I found interesting about this article is it had the different definition of CRE compared to Nicol et al. (2013) but there were similar elements especially the strong emphasis on building relationships. The article noted the need to not only teach the curriculum subject matter but also to “understand the increasingly diverse students in the classroom” (p. 817). They concluded that their model was a practical tool which could be used in the science and math fields just as Nicol et al. Once again we are reminded that there is no single approach or set of steps to achieving CRE but a teacher’s willingness to put forth the effort to build relationships, learn the community’s culture and incorporate it into the curriculum and instruction.

References:

Hernandez, C. M., Morales, A. R., & Shroyer, M. G. (2013). The development of a model of culturally responsive science and mathematics teaching. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 8(4), 803-820. doi:10.1007/s11422-013-9544-1

Nicol, C., Archibald, J., & Baker, J. (2013). Designing a model of culturally responsive mathematics education: Place, relationships and storywork. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 25(1), 73-89. doi:10.1007/s13394-012-0062-3

POST #3 – This Is Why Most Teachers Need Indigenous Coaches

A great article that focuses on the movement in which education is the key element in the call to action to support reconciliation. By incorporating Indigenous content and perspectives into classroom learning there is an expectation for investment in renewed relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators.

The article discusses how non-Indigenous teachers can move forward and go about this work in the best way.

https://theconversation.com/this-is-why-most-teachers-need-indigenous-coaches-82875

Designing a model of culturally responsive mathematics education: place, relationships and storywork

While researching my research project for digital storytelling I stumbled across this article Designing a model of culturally responsive mathematics education: place, relationships and storywork by Cynthia Nicol, Jo-ann Archibald and Jeff Baker. I was instantly intrigued for within my own classroom I struggle to incorporate relevant mathematical concepts from a First Nations perspective. I found this study fascinating as it occurred over 3 years, with 7 participants (3 First Nations ancestry) in a “small rural school district” (p 76) in the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia who met for full days every “four to eight weeks throughout the school year” (p 78). I believe that kind of support would be invaluable when learning to incorporate culturally responsive pedagogy into your practice. Since culturally responsive education (CRE) “cannot be approached as a recipe or series of steps that a teacher can follow” (p 76), the researchers drew upon “Archibald’s (2008) Indigenous storywork theoretical framework (p 77) and “participatory action research” (p 77) in which curriculum is developed within collaboration from involved parties as well as community members (p 77). Over the course of the study the participants developed collective projects and individual projects. Working with stories teachers and community members were able to develop mathematical and cultural investigations and example is using Raven Brings the Light students compared “surface areas and volumes of nested boxes, building nested boxes from paper, exploring the concept of transformation and shape-shifting from a mathematical sense and cultural sense” (p 80). The project determined the following aspects for CRE:

Place- based education: ideas are grounded “to the cultural environment which students and schools are situated” (p 82)
Storywork: cultural stories, legends and art (considered written language) draw context for teaching and learning mathematics (p 83)
Focused on relationships: teachers need to forge relationships with their students, parents and the community
Inquiry based: “inquiry based mathematics provided opportunities to use mathematics to help students make sense of local issues” (p 84).
Requiring social consciousness and personal/collective agency: “commitment to transform mathematics teaching and learning” (p 85)

The big takeaway from the article for me was to become a more culturally responsive teacher a teacher needs to be committed to transforming their practice by using the ideas presented and it can be sustained through support with other educators, parents, and community members. Knowing every Indigenous community is different culturally responsive education will look different in every community I would like to research how to incorporate culturally responsive education within my school.