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Empowering teachers: A critical ethnography of a multicultural science reform
Abstract
The purpose of this collaborative, critical ethnographic study was to understand teacher culture during a science reform process; to determine barriers to reform; and to serve as an advocate during attempts to reduce these barriers. The issue leading to this study was inequitable achievement of students of color in science. The research team implemented a science program designed to resolve this inequity; however, barriers made implementation difficult. The focus of the study was to describe teacher culture as the team identified barriers and worked to overcome them and improve science learning. Data included observations, interviews, journals, videotapes, and collaborative conversations. Thematic analyses were completed at three points during the research. These analyses provided cultural snapshots which demonstrated teacher change. Early themes included: access to materials; beliefs aligned with Freire's (1970) banking concept of education; standards which fit students into a bell curve and viewed teachers as producers of "good" students; classroom control; and teaching ambiguities. Mid-research themes changed to: need for change; teacher and curricular responsibility for student failure; collaboration; teacher talk and student voice; and student control of knowledge. Final themes included: team as safety net; hierarchical power issues; alignment of teacher and learner roles; voice and power; and stress vs. goals. Barriers to change included personal barriers which arose from the paradoxes of teaching and from beliefs about teachers, learners, and knowledge; professional barriers which dealt with teachers' power; and institutional barriers which limited teacher change. Conversational patterns and teacher perceptions of action research were used to determine the mechanics of change. Conversational analysis showed a shift from researcher-driven conversation and problem-solving to collaborative conversation in which co-researchers jointly solved problems. Change was driven by praxis through cycles of reflection and action. Early reflection was individual. Slowly, teachers included co-researchers and students in the reflection/analysis process. As collaboration increased, barriers were broken. Collaborative research/conversations which centered upon theory and practice promoted teacher change. Such information can provide direction in efforts to provide equitable science learning environments.
Subject Area
Science education|Bilingual education|Multicultural education|Curricula|Teaching|School administration
Recommended Citation
Koba, Susan Beth, "Empowering teachers: A critical ethnography of a multicultural science reform" (1996). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9703785.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9703785