STS pedagogies

DISSERTATION PROJECT v. 2021

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Coloring Outside The Lines: Archive Cover

How does STEM pedagogy become key to envisioning new societal futures? 

My dissertation research examines how California’s educational and professional futures are being transformed by an array of programs and policies that refocus STEM pedagogy to meet the personal, community, and local needs of students and their environments. STEM educators today are advocating for innovative curricula that center students’ understandings of the world; hiring and training educators from underserved communities in STEM; and expanding STEM learning and teaching to out-of-school environments such as science centers, museums and community education. This study examines the array of ways K-12 STEM educators and administrators are enacting “next-generation” STEM pedagogy, working across state, non-profit, and corporate sectors. 

By examining the pedagogical ideals, aspirations, subjectivities, tactics, and working environments of STEM educators, this project underscores the critical role of pedagogy and its practitioners in the production, reproduction and circulation of scientific knowledge.

Woke Math

What is at stake in next-generation STEM education?

California Department of Education draft plan to revise the K-12 Mathematics Framework to make social justice issues central to how math is taught in middle and high schools met with resistance from several fronts, including 600 scientists and educators who have signed an open letter asking it to be withdrawn. It further emphasizes integrated tracks in middle schools to close the racial achievement gap and progression along with acceleration. Critics of the plan argue that math education should not "woke", pointing instead to other industrialized nations, especially in East Asia, from where students outperform American students in math. Meanwhile, educators continue to state that STEM education cannot remain apolitical in the wake of pandemics and protests. 

STS Laboratories, Clinics, Data Panel Notes July 7

This is a PDF download of a Google document. It reflects notes taken during the "STS Laboratories, Clinics, Data" Panel with Anita Say Chan, Rachel Douglas-Jones, Ranjit Singh, and Malte Ziewitz in the STS as a Critical Pedagogy Workshop, Summer 2021. Notes were primarily taken by undergraduate...Read more

Strategic use of boundary objects

The " Making the Case for Ourselves: Boundary Objects in Critical STS Pedagogies" panel raised an important and provocative question: "What kinds of boundary objects do you use to make a case for yourself as an STS educator?" The answers our panelists provided ranged from teaching areas ("writing...Read more
Cooking with STS: Lived Experience as Ingredients Panel Notes July 14, 2021

This is a PDF download of a Google document. It reflects notes taken during the "Cooking with STS: Lived Experiences as Ingredients" Panel with Matthew Harsh, Nicole Mogul, David Tomblin, Damien P. Williams, and Hong-An Wu in the STS as a Critical Pedagogy Workshop, Summer 2021. Notes were...Read more

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