Abstract
As elementary and middle school children of color continue to score poorly on science standardized tests, culturally relevant teaching has been shown to be an effective approach to addressing the social and academic needs of students from diverse backgrounds. In this article, we illustrate how the theory of culturally relevant pedagogy is embraced in the teaching beliefs of a sixth grade science teacher in a rural, low socioeconomic, predominantly African American school. The findings from a qualitative case study reveal beliefs and teaching practices consistent with three major tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy: conceptions of self and students; social relations; and perceptions of knowledge (Ladson-Billings, 2009). This study builds upon the culturally relevant pedagogy knowledge base by illustrating the tenets of this theory in the beliefs and teaching practices of a sixth grade science teacher.
Highlights
Elementary and middle school children of color continue to score poorly on science standardized tests
Science standardized test data show a history of significant achievement gaps among students of color and English language learners (Lee & Fradd, 1998; Mullis, Dossey, Campbell, Gentile, O’Sullivan, & Latham, 1994; National Center for Educational Statistics, 2002; National Science Foundation, 1994; Parsons, 2008)
Our goal is to demonstrate how this pedagogy is embraced in the beliefs of the teacher, which in turn, become enacted in her teaching practice
Summary
Elementary and middle school children of color continue to score poorly on science standardized tests. Science standardized test data show a history of significant achievement gaps among students of color and English language learners (Lee & Fradd, 1998; Mullis, Dossey, Campbell, Gentile, O’Sullivan, & Latham, 1994; National Center for Educational Statistics, 2002; National Science Foundation, 1994; Parsons, 2008). Their poor achievement becomes more and more visible as they move further in school (Parsons, 2008). While numerous factors influence teachers’ decisions about the content they teach, how they teach it and what materials will actively engage students with the content (Weiss & Pasley, 2004), science learning and achievement occur when science is presented in a mainstream fashion in concert with valuing the relevance of students’ everyday lives (Aikenhead, 1996; Bianchini & Brenner, 2010)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
