Multicultural Science Education in High Poverty Urban High School Contexts

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the complexities of multicultural science education in High poverty urban schools. High poverty urban schools encounter layers of barriers that expand in all directions of social, cultural, racial, political, historical, economic, and personal lives of individuals and communities. High poverty urban schools are uniquely different from any other schools including low-poverty urban schools. Science teacher attrition, low per student funding, scarcity of science education resources, culturally less sensitive science teachers, low academic expectation, and structural barriers of schools and schooling seem to be hallmarks of these schools. Studies have shown that pedagogies that value students’ and community culture and experiences show greater academic achievement and success among High poverty schools. Additionally, social justice and sociopolitically conscious pedagogies show greater connections between High poverty urban school students’ lives and science because these pedagogies are successful in strongly linking experiences of race, culture, history, identities, values, and beliefs. This chapter draws from large swaths of literature from different disciplines including science education, general education, critical theories, sociology, anthropology, policy, indigenous, immigrant, and urban education to paint a complex picture of how science education in High poverty urban schools need tremendous amount of work from researchers, educators, teachers, administrators, policy makers, communities, and parents and caretakers. The chapter suggests that more focused studies are needed to better understand the assets, needs, and challenges of High poverty urban schools for a science education that is socially justice; equitable, socially, and personally transformative; and sociopolitically conscious.