Exploring the contexts of urban science classrooms. Part 1: Investigating corporate and communal practices

Abstract

In this paper, I discuss the existence of varying ideologies and perspectives within urban science classrooms and uncover the importance of focusing on student and teacher practices as a means to bridge these disconnections. Specifically, I describe the existence of corporate and communal ideologies and the dynamics that create the misalignment between groups that hold allegiances to these varying belief systems. Utilizing three allied theoretical frames, this paper provides a multi layered and timely analysis of the teaching of science in an urban high school in New York City. I conjoin Bourdieu’s sociocultural theory, an analysis of social life through the use of the structure|agency dialectic, and a theorizing of corporate and communal practice to embark on a journey into how African American and Latino/a students’ ways of knowing and being can be utilized to meet the goal of improving their success in science.