Race, Culture, Gender, and Nature of Science in Elementary Settings

Abstract

In this chapter, we explore the open-ended question “What do elementary students understand about NOS?” in a manner that deliberately foregrounds equity issues. We acknowledge that there is no single definition of NOS upon which all scholars agree, as well as that there are different presumptions about the world that would impact any of those definitions. Indeed, the very discussion of NOS itself is only beginning to be explored in regard to diverse perspectives. However, we limit our discussion to the aspects of NOS that are emphasized in national and international K-6 science education standards documents and have been widely discussed in the literature. Our discussion addresses the theoretical and empirical aspects of elementary students’ contemporary NOS understandings, elucidating the role of university personnel actively seeking to meet the science education needs of all children. The discussion is enhanced by the findings from three empirical studies. These studies involved two large urban school districts with large percentages of African American male and female students; a heterogeneous classroom population in a suburban at-risk school; and a girls academy in a large urban district. These individual studies explored students from multiple intersections of diversity, and sought to improve our understandings of how elementary students conceptualize NOS.