Science in the city: Culturally relevant STEM education, by Bryan A. Brown

Abstract

In the United States, historical oppression has shaped the educational view of success, the inclusion (or exclusion) of certain populations of students, and current inequitable conditions. In particular, contemporary science education has suffered from a history of linguistic prejudice and cultural assimilation which has greatly impacted African American and Latinx students’ experiences in science. The cultural and linguistic practices of these particular student groups are often seen as incompatible with practices commonly used by scientists. To engage in science learning in K-12 schools, African American and Latinx students must learn and emulate the language practices (i.e., scientific ways of knowing and communicating) privileged in science education. In Science in the City: Culturally Relevant STEM Education, Bryan A. Brown explores the role that language, race, and culture plays in how African American and Latinx students learn science and develop their disciplinary identity in the United States. Brown, an associate professor of science education at Stanford University, focuses his research on exploring the relationship between student identity, science discourse, culture, and student achievement in science education. In this book, he highlights how students use language practices that reflect their everyday lives and cultures to communicate their understanding of scientific phenomena. Yet, Brown presents in this book how these practices are often not leveraged by educators when teaching discipline-specific concepts. Brown defines everyday language as the use of words and phrases that are not rooted in a specialized activity (e.g., football, knitting, toy rocket building) or scientific language (e.g., chromosomes, citric acid cycle, photosynthesis) but rather words that are accessible to the public. In contrast, academic language is associated with dominant and privileged language practices (i.e., white, middle class, cisgender, English speaking) that inherently position other language practices (e.g., African American Vernacular and Spanglish) as non-academic. In the context of science education, scientific language, a form of academic language, is portrayed as an impersonal and technical form of communication used by scientists that students learn to use in the classroom. Like academic language, scientific language privileges white norms of discourse such as objective observations, taxonomic thinking, and strict turn-talking. Brown posits that the use of everyday language and personal experiences are ways for African American and Latinx students to meaningfully engage and develop their identity as doers of science. He also illustrates the influence that language practices have on how teachers view or position their students. This positioning can impose either a deficit or assetorientation that shapes how students view themselves in the science classroom. Overall, this book adds to the literature base around the intrinsic relationships between students’ language practices and their science learning experiences by demonstrating to educators and educational researchers the importance of incorporating the resources students of color (i.e., African American, Latinx, etc.) use to make sense of the natural world into scientific language development. The book is presented in two parts: 1) how language and culture are vital in teaching and learning science and 2) how to use culturally relevant teaching practices to support African American and Latinx students’ science learning. Throughout these two parts, Brown uses non-academic and academic examples, personal anecdotes, classroom examples, excerpts from peer-reviewed STEM education journals, and studies conducted by his research team to demonstrate the need for science