MnSTA Presidents's Message, Spring 2021

Justice-Centered Science Pedagogy

For some reason, I have not been able to write this newsletter until today. The Dereck Chauvin trial is done, and the verdict is in. And just like when George Floyd died, we are now being flooded with statements and declarations about justice, accountability, and racial healing. People and organizations are calling for systemic change. What does this mean for us as teachers and more so as science teachers in the state of Minnesota? What does it mean for MnSTA?

As I reflect on my journey with my students these couple of months, I reflect as a Black female science teacher of students (and especially BIPOC students) in an Urban High School. I also reflect as a proud Minneapolis Public School educator whose student, Ms. Darnella Frazier, provided the most significant piece of evidence that changed the trajectory of the storytelling (storylines) surrounding George Floyd’s death and the conviction of Dereck Chauvin -the video that shocked the world into action.

The trial provided ample opportunities for my students to see science practitioners in the field to look at data from various angles. My students studied physiology, forensics, biology, anatomy, the science of breathing, oxygen and carbon dioxide content, among others. More so it brought to the fore the urgency of pedagogical paradigm shifting to phenomena-based 3D science learning anchored in justicecentered science pedagogy.

We have always made the argument, as we developed the 2019 Minnesota Science Standards, that phenomenon-based learning increases the authenticity of learning that starts from the shared observation of holistic, genuine real-world phenomena in the learning community and supports students’ agency. We also support the NGSS position that explaining phenomena and designing solutions to problems allow students to build general science ideas in the context of their application to understanding phenomena in the real world, leading to deeper and more transferable knowledge. In addition, we made that argument that the science standards are standards for All Students. Our MnCOSE20 theme was: A New Vision for Science Education in Minnesota: All Students, All Standards, All Voices! As much promise as these hold for all our students, they are all but a single story if we do not anchor them on social and racial justice in science pedagogy.

When the video of George Floyd’s dying surfaced as my students and I were in class during distance learning, we used the event as anchor for 3D and justice-centered science learning. Avoiding the discussion, the teaching and learning surrounding the event was not an option. The event happened in our community, in front of our students and in real time. We were traumatized. When the verdict of the trial of the person involved in his death was about to be announced, we were in class but were asked to leave school for safety reasons. We were again retraumatized. We were forced back in distance learning.

Here’s where we landed. Observing events, collecting data using the most relevant tool available at the time, recording the event and publishing the data for others to use as evidence, reviewing the data for facts to be used in argumentation and decisionmaking so as to design solutions for systemic issues, is for us the epitome of 3D phenomena-based science learning. It is what scientists do. Above all, that is what we hope for in justice-centered science learning and learning. It is what Ms. Frazier did. That’s the science we want our students to do more often.

We were left with more questions, however. What if Ms. Frazier had not made her observation and her learning of the event happening in front of her public? What if she had remained silent? We have come to know that silence is violence and violence is death for the oppressed in an oppressive system.

Justice-centered science pedagogy is the meaning-making for 3D phenomena-based science learning. Without it, 3D phenomena-based science learning is a single story and incomplete. Science and science education aimed at explaining phenomena and designing solutions must aim for science for all anchored in justice for all.