To redress anti-blackness in science teaching and learning, we must move beyond ‘Black representation in STEM fields’ as this primarily positions Black science geniuses in the past. Instead in this course we will reposition the historical and present day genius of Black scientific innovations and practices in science so that we can imagine a more affirming and humanizing future through curricular design and archival research. This course aims to humanize Black science cultural practices by centering the work of everyday people in the past, present, and future. In this course students will consider the history of science and science education, both within and beyond the confines of westernized science by engaging with research that looked to the archives to explore Black pedagogical practices. Specifically we will learn about the ways Black teachers prior to Brown vs. Board of Education, 1954 engaged in pedagogical practices that centered love, liberation, and community so that we might use this history to inspire how we might present anti-racist science teaching to all students in our classrooms. Anti-blackness in the use of science today impacts us all and limits our ability to participate in a fully democratic and just society, students will be given the opportunity to consider the misuse of science in their own communities and what they previously accepted as fact versus structural injustices. By the end of the course, students will present on their own research project or science unit storyline that meets at the intersection of Black pedagogical practices, science learning, and historical/current uses of science in our everyday lives.
Course #
SCIED-GE 2021
Credits
3
Department
Teaching and Learning