- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 1439628
- First Name Edgar
- Last Name Massingale
- Institution Aloha High School, Beaverton School District, Oregon
- Role/Position Master Teaching Fellow
- Proposal Type Workshop
- Workshop Category Track 3: Master Teaching Fellowships
- Workshop Disciplines Audience STEM Education (general)
- Target Audience Noyce Master Teachers, Noyce Teaching Fellows, Undergraduate and/or Graduate Noyce Scholars
- Topics Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
- Additional Presenter(s)
Dr. Kevin Carr
Goals
Participants will learn how to build and support a student participatory model for enhanced authentic inquiry in science.
Evidence
In February 2023, 97 students were surveyed on their past experiences in science. Of the 97 students surveyed, 69% stated they enjoyed science before Soul of Science. After their Soul of Science experience, 90% now state they had a positive learning experience in science. Of the 21 students who now state they had a positive experience in science, over 90% of these students were BIPOC.
Proposal
The goal of the Soul of Science is to improve BIPOC Engagement in STEM. We use a student participatory model for authentic inquiry based on the Next Generation Science Standards (See samples of our Engagement Hooks here). We also introduce BIPOC students to project management by allowing them to work with their peers in the creation of engagement hooks for lessons to be more culturally inclusive. During this process all participants get the opportunity to also work with several BIPOC professionals and women including engineers, teachers, scientists and university professors. Our practices utilize trauma-informed pedagogy training for the teachers, and other participants in the program. The plan for the workshop is to model our classroom engagement cadence in the classroom, and then follow-up with an open discussion session. Our sessions are meant to be lighthearted, but compelling from a student curiosity perspective such as our interactive Student Talk session on “Do Aliens Drink Water?” which is meant to communicate the connection between math, physics, chemistry, and biology. The lessons inspired by the BIPOC students in the Soul of Science Model support equity by appealing to all students, and especially the traditionally underrepresented populations such as Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, and American Indians or Alaska Natives.
