Abstract
The National Science Education Standards and the Benchmarks for Science Literacy emphasize the need to focus science, technology, and society (STS) as a part of science instruction. Thus, science teacher educators have a sound and rationalized basis for pursuing societal matters in science education. Within these societal matters rests the need to explicate the roles of African American scientists in the development and successes of the United States. This chapter will attempt to highlight the best of what we know about science teaching and learning, sociocultural theory (SCT), and Black scientists, who succeeded during the Jim Crow period in the United States, to create a knowledge base for secondary science teacher educators and candidates. Aspects of Critical Race Theory (CRT) will be used to connect our exploration of Black scientists to the science education we hope to share with future science teachers. Several activities and strategies are offered as starting points for expanding and enhancing the dialogue.
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Resources With the advent of the Internet, there are many sources of information on Black scientists, many of which can provide the context for analyzing science during the integration of the Jim Crow era and the Civil Rights Movement. Be sure to check sources carefully, as legends, myths, and truths can coexist in some of the stories of life. In addition to the resources cited in the chapter, here are a few more sources of information that could prove useful.
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Butler, M.B. (2014). Second-Class Citizens, First-Class Scientists: Using Sociocultural Perspectives to Highlight the Successes and Challenges of African American Scientists During the Jim Crow Era. In: Atwater, M., Russell, M., Butler, M. (eds) Multicultural Science Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7651-7_3
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