Doctoral Dissertation Research: Knowledge Production & Cultural Politics in STEM Pedagogy

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

How science is taught varies considerably across contexts and time. What shapes science instruction? How do broader political and cultural factors interact with educators’ characteristics to affect how science is understood and taught? This doctoral dissertation research uses theory from cultural anthropology and science and technology studies to investigate which cultural, political, and individual factors emerge as most important in shaping how science is understood and taught in different contexts. In addition to training a graduate student, this project disseminates its results broadly to stakeholder and academic audiences. Results further develop educational curricula. This project conducts a year of ethnographic research to address two central questions: 1) How do science educators understand the influence of broader cultural trends on science pedagogy; and 2) How do individual characteristics affect how science educators teach science across different cultural contexts? The student investigator employs participant observation and in-depth interviews with science educators, researchers, and curriculum developers in different institutional settings across multiple iterations. Using a comparative approach, the project advances understanding of how notions of science shift when educators of varying background learn how to teach in different institutional settings. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.