Equity and Accessibility in Science Teaching and Learning
This microcredential represents educators' consistent and effective focus on equity and accessibility in three-dimensional science instruction in secondary science classrooms. This stack of microcredentials fulfills one of the requirements of the pathway for the Secondary Science Endorsement.
-
Utah Effective Teaching Standards > Standard 1: Learners and Learning
Element 1: Personalizing Learning - Designing learning that builds on background knowledge while providing opportunities for each student to access, practice and refine new learning. -
Utah Effective Teaching Standards > Standard 1: Learners and Learning
Element 3: Respecting Learner Backgrounds and - Demonstrating respect for each learner and exhibiting actions consistent with recognizing learners’ diverse backgrounds and perspectives as assets to the classroom community.
To earn this microcredential you will collect and submit two sets of evidence demonstrating your effective and consistent focus on equity and accessibility in your three-dimensional science and engineering instruction. You will also complete a written or video reflective analysis.
Research from A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (National Research Council, 2012), states: “Science and engineering are growing in their societal importance, yet access to a high-quality education in science and engineering remains determined in large part by an individual’s socioeconomic class, racial or ethnic group, gender, language background, disability designation, or national origin. As summarized by Banks et al.: “Being born into a racial majority group with high levels of economic and social resources—or into a group that has historically been marginalized with low levels of economic and social resources—results in very different lived experiences that include unequal learning opportunities, challenges, and potential risks for learning and development”. Many students from lower socioeconomic strata enter formal schooling with smaller academic vocabularies, have less access to organized extracurricular activities and supplemental supports, and have less social capital mobilized on their behalf than their more economically advantaged peers. As this is the current reality for many students in K-12 education and must be addressed if we are to equitably educate a diverse citizenry.
“The term “equity” has been used in different ways by different communities of researchers and educators. Equity as an expression of socially enlightened self-interest is reflected in calls to invest in the science and engineering education of underrepresented groups simply because American labor needs can no longer be met by recruiting among the traditional populations. Equity as an expression of social justice is manifested in calls to remedy the injustices visited on entire groups of American society that in the past have been underserved by their schools and have thereby suffered severely limited prospects of high-prestige careers in science and engineering. Other notions of equity are expressed throughout the education literature; all are based on the common sense idea of fairness—what is inequitable is unfair. Fairness is sometimes considered to mean offering equal opportunity to all. The most commonly used definition of equity, as influenced by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education (1954, 1955) and Lau v. Nichols (1974), frames equity in terms of equal treatment of all” (NRC, 2012, page 278).
Research from A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (National Research Council, 2012), states that “to develop a thorough understanding of scientific explanations of the world, students need sustained opportunities to work with and develop the underlying ideas and to appreciate those ideas’ interconnections over a period of years rather than weeks or months” (p. 26). This document also asserts that “The framework focuses on a limited set of core ideas in order to avoid the coverage of multiple disconnected topics—the oft-mentioned mile wide and inch deep. This focus allows for deep exploration of important concepts, as well as time for students to develop meaningful understanding” (p. 25). This places the focus on students using the other two dimensions of science instruction identified in The Framework (NRC, 2012), crosscutting concepts and science and engineering practices, to deepen understanding of disciplinary core concepts.
The Framework (NRC, 2012) document is the foundational resource that informed the development of the current Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (USBE, 2019). Within these standards, the concept of sensemaking of core ideas through crosscutting concepts and science and engineering practices is a foundational principle of science education.
For teachers to include appropriate sensemaking experiences into instruction, they must also understand how to develop it in students. This microcredential stack focuses on teacher understanding and implementation of student sensemaking as a foundation for building effective science instruction in Grades 6-12. Each microcredential in the stack is meant to provide evidence of the competencies necessary to demonstrate effective three-dimensional science and engineering teaching.
Reference: National Research Council. (2012). A framework for K-12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. Committee on a Conceptual Framework for New K-12 Science Education Standards. Board on Science Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Category: Preparation and Planning
Submit the evidence listed below to demonstrate your effective and consistent preparation and planning for exercise physiology instruction.
Submit a portfolio of artifacts of your planning for instruction that attends to equity and accessibility in three-dimensional (phenomenon-driven) science teaching and learning. Your portfolio must include a written introduction describing current inequities and systemic injustices present in traditional science educational practices, how this pertains to your classroom, and how you used this information in the planning of your classroom instruction.
Your portfolio must also include at least one of each of the following to demonstrate how you design instruction to embed equity and accessibility in learning tasks that allowed all diverse learners to access and engage fully in a science classroom:
-
Unit Plan
-
Lesson Plan
-
Formative Assessment
Use and cite sources to support your rationale and instructional decisions. See the Resources section for examples of sources to cite.
Category: Implementation
Submit the evidence listed below to demonstrate your effective and consistent implementation of appropriate practices for supporting equity and diversity in three-dimensional science and engineering instruction.
Submit at least three samples of student work generated during your instruction. These student work samples should demonstrate your competency in attending to equity and accessibility in three-dimensional (phenomenon-driven) science teaching and learning that promotes, reflects upon, and responds to student sensemaking. These work samples may include any of the following:
-
Videos
-
Student writing
-
Student lab work, observations, data
Again, these student work samples should demonstrate how your instruction attends to equity and accessibility in a science classroom.
Additionally, include a written reflection that provides an insightful summary of what you have learned, gained, and adjusted as you have developed a deeper sense of equity and accessibility in the science classroom and how this applies to your current and future contexts.
Be sure to follow your district/charter guidelines for student privacy.
Review Criteria
Criterion 1: Evidence demonstrates how educator integrates equity and accessibility into instructional design to increase diverse learners’ sensemaking of phenomena.
Criterion 2: Evidence demonstrates that educator recognizes and addresses diverse learner needs through an equity-focused lens and provides work-sample that reflect thoughtful and intentional attention to these priorities in classroom teaching.
Criterion 3: Evidence demonstrates that the educator has a sound understanding of the connection between practice and research-based educational principles of equity in the science classroom.
How does your knowledge of equity and accessibility support your students' conceptual learning in science?
How do you plan to develop your understanding of equity and accessibility into student sensemaking in the future?
Review Criteria
Criterion 1: The reflective analysis indicates an awareness of the importance of educators to continually learn and increase their knowledge base in and proficiency in equity and accessibility in science teaching and learning.
Criterion 2: The reflective analysis indicates an awareness of the importance of why attention to equity and accessibility is an integral part of the student learning process in science.
https://www.nap.edu/read/13165/chapter/1
A teacher friendly research document that explains the three dimensions of science including science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas. Each dimension as well as their specific progressions from grades K to 12 is explained in depth within its own chapter. The disciplinary core ideas are grouped into major disciplines (i.e., Physical Sciences; Life Sciences; Earth and Space Sciences; Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science). Each discipline is explained in a separate chapter. The report also describes developmentally appropriate learning progressions. Additionally there are chapters on important topics such as integrating the three dimensions (Ch.9), Implementation into the classroom (Ch.10), Equity and Diversity (Ch.11).
National Research Council. (2012). A Framework for K-12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. Committee on a Conceptual Framework for New K-12 Science Education Standards. Board on Science Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Ambitious Science Teaching
This book explores how to support student sensemaking of science concepts. It includes specific vignettes, examples, and practical suggestions for implementing in the classroom.
Windschitl, M., Thompson, J., & Braaten, M. (2018). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
STEM Teaching Tools - Equity
https://stemteachingtools.org/tgs/Equity
This list of practice briefs describe best practices for equitable teaching and learning in STEM.
Helping Students Make Sense of the World Using Next Generation Science and Engineering Practices
https://my.nsta.org/resource/105619
This book explores each of the Science and Engineering Practices in detail with examples used in the classroom. Ch 3 discusses how to make learning in science equitable. Schwarz, Chrstina V, Passmore, Cynthia, & Reiser, Brian J. (2017). Arlington, VA: NSTAPress.
Danielle Brown
Margaret Grindstaff
A'Lura Hutchins
Kent Schwager
Elizabeth Stott
250 East 500 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84111-3204
Phone: 801.538.7807