Abstract
This article presents a case study of “the aspirin unit,” a curriculum unit from an advanced chemistry class in a neighborhood high school in a large US city. The extended case method is applied to analyze this curriculum within the larger US political context that criminalizes youth of color. Data sources include retrospective interviews with students, student work, and the teacher-researcher’s archival records. There is evidence that this unit was meaningful to students, effectively framed opportunities for them to learn canonical science, and prompted them to consider the sociopolitical implications of their science education. There is also evidence that there was ample room for improvement in the aspirin unit. This article brings justice-centered science pedagogy into conversation with sociotransformative constructivism to identify some of these possibilities. This study implies that addressing inequity in science education requires confronting the latent politics in the curriculum and broader context.
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Morales-Doyle, D. The aspirin unit: confronting a hostile political context through chemistry curriculum. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 15, 639–657 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-019-09932-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-019-09932-z