Visualizing Culturally Relevant Science Pedagogy Through Photonarratives of Black Middle School Teachers

Source: Journal of Science Teacher Education, Volume 20, Number 2 / April 2009, pages 179-198.

This study situated in a Southern resegregated Black middle school. It involved four Black teachers and two White science educators’ use of photonarratives to envision culturally relevant science pedagogy.

Two questions guided the study: (1) What community referents are important for conceptualizing culturally relevant practices in Black science classrooms?
and (2) How do teachers’ photonarratives serve to open conversations and notions of culturally relevant science practices?

The research methodologically drew upon memory-work, Black feminism, critical theory, visual methodology, and narrative inquiry as “portraiture.”
Issues of positionality and identity proved to be central to this work, as three luminaries portray Black teachers’ insights about supports and barriers to teaching and learning science. The community referents identified were associated with church and its oral traditions, inequities of the market place in meeting their basic human needs, and community spaces.