Abstract
We are interested in how whiteness shaped one teacher’s abilities to engage his elementary school students in culturally responsive pedagogy, especially his abilities to engage or avoid conversations about race-based inequities in an integrated technology unit focused on NGSS disciplinary practices. We draw upon culturally responsive pedagogy, critical race theory, and critical whiteness studies to understand the role of whiteness in a single case study of integrated elementary science teaching leveraging electronic textiles technology. The case study reported here is part of a larger study investigating how technology integration supports justice-centered science learning for elementary school teachers and their students in the Intermountain Region of the USA. The authors are white and Latino and all, but one, are former classroom teachers. Drawing on multiple data sources (field notes of classroom observations, interviews, transcripts of video-recorded classroom sessions), we developed a single descriptive case to illustrate shifts in teacher practice over time. We documented one white, male, fifth grade teacher’s engagements with his students around issues of race as manifested in conversations about immigration, migration, and forced relocation in an integrated technology unit focused on NGSS disciplinary practices. This single case and the teacher perspectives it illustrates are resonant not only of our data but also the scholarly literature on white pre- and in-service teachers in the USA. We conclude with some practical recommendations for teacher professional development.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Atwater, M. M. (2012). Significant science education research on multicultural science education, equity, and social justice. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 49(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20453
Banks, J. A. (1993). Multicultural education: Historical development, dimensions, and practice. Review of Research in Education, 19, 3–49. https://doi.org/10.2307/1167339
Banks, J. A. (2016). Cultural Diversity and Education (6th ed.). Routledge.
Bennett, J. S. (2019). Fostering relational trust to engage white teachers and researchers on reflections of race, power, and oppression. Teaching and Teacher Education, 86, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.1028960742-051X
Botelho, M. J., & Rudman, M. K. (2009). Critical multicultural analysis of children’s literature. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.102896
Brayboy, B. M. J., & Maughan, E. (2009). Indigenous knowledges and the story of the bean. Harvard Educational Review, 79(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.79.1.l0u6435086352229
Brown, A. L., & Brown, K. D. (2010). Strange fruit indeed: Interrogating contemporary textbook representations of racial violence toward African Americans. Teachers College Record, 112, 31–67. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811011200108
Bybee, R., McCrae, B., & Laurie, R. (2009). PISA 2006: An assessment of scientific literacy. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 46(8), 865–883. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20333
Castagno, A. E. (2014). Educated in whiteness: Good intentions and diversity in schools. University of Minnesota Press.
Delgado, R. (1995). The Rodrigo chronicles: Conversations about America and race. New York University Press.
Gay, G. (2013). Teaching to and through cultural diversity. Curriculum Inquiry, 43(1), 48–70. https://doi.org/10.1111/curi.12002
González, N., Moll, L., & Amanti, C. (2005). Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities and classrooms. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Harris, C. I. (1993). Whiteness as property. Harvard Law Review, 106(8), 1710–1791.
Holan, A.D. (2019). In context: Donald Trump’s ‘very fine people on both sides’ remarks (transcript). https://www.politifact.com/article/2019/apr/26/context-trumps-very-fine-people-both-sides-remarks/
Hollingworth, L. (2009). Complicated conversations: Exploring race and ideology in an elementary classroom. Urban Education, 44(1), 30–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085907312496
Jupp, J. C., Berry, T. R., & Lensmire, T. J. (2016). Second-wave white teacher identity studies: A review of white teacher identity literature from 2004 through 2014. Review of Educational Research, 86(4), 1151–1191. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654316629798
Kafai, Y. B., Fields, D. A., & Searle, K. A. (2014). Electronic textiles as disruptive designs: Supporting and challenging maker activities in schools. Harvard Educational Review, 84(4), 532–556. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.84.4.46m7372370214783
Kincheloe, J. L., & Steinberg, S. R. (1997). Changing multiculturalism. Open University Press.
King, J. E. (1991). Dysconscious racism: Ideology, identity, and the miseducation of teachers. The Journal of Negro Education, 60(2), 133–146.
Klug & Whitfield. (2003). Widening the circle: Culturally relevant pedagogy for American Indian children. Routledge.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1998). Just what is critical race theory and what’s it doing in a nice field like education? International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 11(1), 7–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/095183998236863
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465–491. https://doi.org/10.1080/095183998236863
Ladson-Billings, G., Tate, W. F., & IV. (1995). Towards a critical race theory of education. Teachers College Record, 97, 47–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146819509700104
Lipsitz, G. (1998). The possessive investment in whiteness. Temple University Press.
Leonardo, Z. (2002). The souls of white folk: Critical pedagogy, whiteness studies, and globalization discourse. Race and Ethnicity in Education, 5(1), 29–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613320120117180
Leonardo, Z. (2009). Race, whiteness, and education. Routledge.
Leonardo, Z., & Zembylas, M. (2013). Whiteness as technology of affect: Implications for educational practice. Equity and Excellence in Education, 46(1), 150–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2013.750539
Matias, C. E. (2013). Check yo’self before you wreck yo’self and our kids: Counterstories from culturally responsive white teachers…to culturally responsive white teachers! Interdisciplinary Journal of Teaching and Learning, 3(2), 68–81.
Matias, C., & Zembylas, M. (2014). ‘When saying you care is not really caring’: Emotions of disgust, whiteness ideology, and teacher education. Critical Studies in Education, 55(3), 319–337. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2014.922489
Mensah, F.M. (2021). “Now, I see.”: Multicultural science curriculum as transformation and social action. The Urban Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-021-00602-5
Mensah, F. M. (2009). Confronting assumptions, biases, and stereotypes in preservice teachers’ conceptualizations of science teaching through the use of book club. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 46(9), 1041–1066. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20299
Mensah, F. M., & Jackson, I. (2018). Whiteness as property in science teacher education. Teachers College Record, 120, 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811812000108
Picower, B. (2009). The unexamined whiteness of teaching: How White teachers maintain and enact dominant racial ideologies. Race, Ethnicity, and Education, 12(2), 197–215. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613320902995475
Sleeter, C. E. (2017). Critical race theory and the whiteness of teacher education. Urban Education, 52(2), 155–169. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085916668957
Stake, R. E. (1995). The art of case study research. SAGE.
Thompson, A. (1997). For: Anti-racist education. Curriculum Inquiry, 27(1), 7–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/03626784.1997.11075479
Tofel-Grehl, C., Fields, D. A., & SErale, K.A., Maahs-Fladung, C., Feldon, D., Gu, G., & Sun, C. (2017). Electrifying engagement in middle school science: Improving student interest through e-textiles. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 26(4), 406–417.
Urrieta, L. (2004). Dis-connections in “American” citizenship and the post/neo-colonial: People of Mexican descent and whitestream pedagogy and curriculum. Theory & Research in Social Education, 32, 433–458. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2004.10473264
Villegas, A. M., & Lucas, T. (2002). Preparing culturally responsive teachers: Rethinking the curriculum. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(1), 20–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487102053001003
Windschitl, M. (2004). Folk theories of “inquiry:” How preservice teachers reproduce the discourse and practices of an atheoretical scientific method. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41(5), 481–512. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20010
Yoon, I. H. (2012). The paradoxical nature of whiteness-at-work in the daily life of schools and teacher communities. Race Ethnicity and Education, 15(5), 587–613. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2011.624506
Acknowledgements
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Under Grant #1758823. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Lead Editor: Felicia Moore Mensah.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Searle, K.A., Tofel-Grehl, C., Hawkman, A.M. et al. A case study of whiteness at work in an elementary classroom. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 17, 875–898 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-022-10121-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-022-10121-8