- Year 2018
- NSF Award #1439761
- Registration Teaching Fellow
- First Name Diana
- Last Name Bonilla
- Discipline Biology
- Institution University of Illinois at Chicago
- School Name and District Currently Teaching Back of the Yards College Preparatory High School, Chicago Public Schools
Abstract
Biology can easily be viewed as a subject area in which students need to practice rote memorization. In order to make science learning meaningful beyond vocabulary acquisition, lessons should be centered around culturally relevant and justice-centered science teaching. In order to achieve this, curriculum must be shaped to include prior knowledge students have in order to maintain cultural integrity, as well as addressing issues of oppression that are embedded in communities and education itself. Students should be able to connect to content in a way that gives them agency to create change within their own lives and communities. As a new teacher, my teacher inquiries through Project SEEEC have focused on constructing and improving two units in which I attempt to include relevant phenomena so that students have opportunities to develop science knowledge, reflect on their own communities, and become agents of change. My students and I explored cancer and carcinogens in urban air pollution, as a context for learning about the cell cycle. In this unit, students were able to measure air quality in spaces they live and determine if they are exposed to carcinogens. The second unit was focused on genetics and the social construction of race. Students explored how racism impacts their lives, and learned to challenge the biological basis of race. These units support students to learn biology content and meet standards, while they also encourage students to dig into issues of oppression in science and in their own lives. I will share specifics on these units and on ways in which my students engaged with science ideas and made sense of how social justice and science are related.
