Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of a semester-long engineering exploration project used to teach social justice through project-based learning and two social justice frameworks, STEMJ and the transgressive STEM teaching model. Rather than simply trying to help underrepresented students close the STEM achievement gap and join the dominant STEM culture, these social justice models instead aim to empower students to create change by valuing each student’s unique perspectives and encouraging their contributions. Project-based learning shares similar key elements, emphasizing student voice and choice to address challenging problems in an authentic way, making it an ideal complement to introduce and reinforce social justice principles alongside the teaching of technical skills.
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Notes
- 1.
The three sample lesson plans included in this chapter come from our Fall 2019 course. It may be important to note that we use Blackboard as our course management system, which has an anonymous peer evaluation feature, and TopHat classroom software, which allows us to ask multiple choice and discussion questions during class. Twitter and Kahoot are good free alternatives if you do not have access to TopHat.
Abbreviations
- Broadening participation initiatives:
-
Programs first funded by the National Science Foundation to diversify STEM fields and improve persistence of traditionally underrepresented students through support such as scholarships, undergraduate research, and mentorship.
- Project-based learning:
-
A type of active learning that centers on an authentic and complex problem and encourages students to draw on their own experiences to produce a public product through teamwork, reflection, and ongoing feedback and revisions.
- STEMJ:
-
Social justice-driven STEM education; a framework that combines understanding historical systems of oppression to inform local social justice change using STEM knowledge and skills.
- Transgressive teaching:
-
A model that aims to disrupt traditional learning methods by emphasizing collaboration between instructors and students and crossing boundaries of race, gender, and class to re-engage students and draw out the perspectives traditionally missing from STEM fields.
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Recommended Readings
Barnes-Johnson, J. & Johnson, J. M. (2018). STEM21: Equity in teaching and learning to meet global challenges of standards, engagement and transformation. Peter Lang Publishing.
Madden, P. E., Wong, C., Vera Cruz, A. C., Olle, C. D., & Barnett, M. (2017). Social justice driven STEM learning (STEMJ): A curricular framework for teaching STEM in a social justice driven, urban, college access program. Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum, 7(1), 24–27. https://trace.tennessee.edu/catalyst/vol7/iss1/4.
Stoddard, E., Wobbe, K., & Bass, R. (2019). Project-based learning in the first year: Beyond all expectations. Stylus.
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Chiki, J., Sallar, G. (2021). Teaching Social Justice Through Project-Based Learning in Engineering. In: Ozaki, C.C., Parson, L. (eds) Teaching and Learning for Social Justice and Equity in Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69947-5_6
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