White Faculty Learning Through Co-Design: Building Racial Equity-Centered STEM Courses for Preservice Elementary Teachers

Abstract

Postsecondary science education has been shaped by Eurocentric ideologies that center science as a set of culturally neutral, color-blind, and meritocratic systems designed to exclude underrepresented groups from positions of power and knowledge production. Nationally, white faculty still predominate senior faculty positions, resulting in few opportunities for students of color to take courses from faculty who share their racial or cultural backgrounds (Haynes & Patton, 2019). At the same time, there is a need to diversify the predominantly female and white elementary teacher workforce as the K12 student population is rapidly diversifying (Januszyk, et al, 2016; NCES 2103). This paper will describe white STEM faculty learning around race, culture, and STEM teaching/learning in a design-based research project in which we are designing science and engineering modules for preservice elementary teachers that deeply integrate scientific concepts and practices, racial equity, and examinations of the history of racist research practices within science itself.