Abstract
This article explores aspects of science and mathematics faculty identities and biographies that mediated their involvement in K-12 service. Faculty expressed five motivations for participating in K-12 service—advancing their research agenda, advocating environmental consciousness, desiring to be involved in their children’s schools, aspiring to improve their pedagogical practices and promoting equity and social justice.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
For the US government’s definition of urban schools, see http://nces.ed.gov/pubs/web/96184ex.asp.
The research reported in this article was supported by NSF Grant Award # 0412390 to improve science teaching and student achievement in urban schools. Our analysis and presentation of what we learned are offered independently by us and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the NSF.
Pseudonym.
References
Andrews, D., Heaton, R., & Lewis, J. (2007). Engaging mathematicians in the mathematical education of teachers. Paper presented at the math and science partnership network conference. Washington, DC.
Astin, A., Korn, W., & Dey, E. (1991). The American college teacher: National norms for the 1989–90 HERI faculty survey. Los Angeles, CA: Higher Education Research Institute.
Baez, B. (2002). Race-related service and faculty of color: Conceptualizing critical agency in academe. In C. S. Turner, A. L. Antonio, M. Garcia, A. Nora, & C. Presley (Eds.), Racial and ethnic diversity in higher education (pp. 151–168). Boston: Pearson.
Bourdieu, P. (1993). The field of cultural production. New York: Columbia University Press.
Brandt, C. B. (2008). Discursive geographies in science: Space, identity, and scientific discourse among indigenous women in higher education. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 3, 703–730.
Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that matter. New York: Routledge.
Carr, K. (2002). Building bridges and crossing borders: Using service learning to overcome cultural barriers to collaboration between science and education departments. School Science and Mathematics, 10, 285–299.
Donaldson, E. L., & Emes, C. G. (2000). The challenge for women academics: Reaching a critical mass in research, teaching, and service. The Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 3, 33–56.
Engeström, Y. (1987). Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit.
Friere, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum.
Holland, D. C., Lachicotte, W., Skinner, D., & Cain, C. (1998). Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Jaeger, A. J., & Thornton, C. H. (2006). Neither honor nor compensation: Faculty and public service. Educational Policy, 20, 345–366.
Knowles, G. J. (1992). Models for understanding pre-service and beginning teachers’ biographies: Illustrations from case studies. In I. F. Goodson (Ed.), Studying teachers’ lives (pp. 99–152). New York: Teachers College Press.
Link, A. N., Swann, C. A., & Bozeman, B. (2008). A time allocation study of university faculty. Economics of Education Review, 27(4), 363–374.
Lorber, J. (2006). “Night to his day”: The social construction of gender. In P. S. Rothenberg (Ed.), Race, class and gender in the United States: An integrated study (6th ed., pp. 54–68). New York: Worth.
Lundmark, C. (2002). The FIRST project for reforming undergraduate science teaching. BioScience, 52, 552.
Marsteller, P. A., & Quinones, C. (2003). Building a center for science education: Challenges and opportunities. Georgia Journal of Science, 61, 138–153.
McKinley, E. (2008). From object to subject: Hybrid identities of indigenous women in science. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 3, 959–975.
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Neumann, A., & LaPointe Terosky, A. (2007). To give and to receive: Recently tenured professors’ experiences of service in major research universities. The Journal of Higher Education, 78, 282–310.
Oliveira, A. W., Sadler, T. D., & Suslak, D. F. (2006). The linguistic construction of expert identity in professor–student discussions of science. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 2, 119–150.
Omi, M., & Winant, H. (2006). Racial formations. In P. S. Rothenberg (Ed.), Race, class and gender in the United States: An integrated study (Vol. 6, pp. 12–21). New York: Worth.
Park, S. M. (1996). Research, teaching, and service: Why shouldn’t women’s work count? Journal of Higher Education, 67, 46–84.
Rahm, J. (2007). Youths’ and scientists’ authoring of and positioning within science and scientists’ work. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 1, 517–544.
Roth, W.-M. (2007a). Emotion at work: A contribution to third-generation cultural-historical activity theory. Mind, Culture and Activity, 14(1–2), 40–63.
Roth, W.-M. (2007b). Theorizing passivity. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 2, 1–8.
Roth, W.-M. (2007c). The ethico-moral nature of identity: Prolegomena to the development of third-generation cultural-historical activity theory. International Journal of Educational Research, 46, 83–93.
Roth, W.-M., Tobin, K., Elmesky, R., Carambo, C., McKnight, Y., & Beers, J. (2004). Re/making identities in the praxis of urban schooling: A cultural historical perspective. Mind, Culture and Activity, 11(1), 48–69.
Tobin, K. (2009). Turning into others’ voices: Radical listening, learning from difference, and escaping oppression. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 4 (in press).
Tonso, K. L. (2006). Student engineers and engineer identity: Campus engineer identities as figured world. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 1, 273–307.
Turner, J. H. (2002). Face to face: Toward a sociological theory of interpersonal behavior. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Wertsch, J. V. (1998). Mind as action. New York: Oxford University Press.
Acknowledgements
We thank the faculty who participated in the study. We also thank the journal's editors and reviewers for providing many generative recommendations in the revision of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Skerrett, A., Sevian, H. Identity and biography as mediators of science and mathematics faculty’s involvement in K-12 service. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 5, 743–766 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-009-9235-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-009-9235-0