Empowering Science and Mathematics Education in Urban Schools

Turner, Erin, Tan, Edna, Barton, Angela Calabrese, Gutierrez, Maura Varley

ISBN 10: 0226037983 / ISBN 13: 9780226037981

Published by University of Chicago Press, 2012

Former library copy. Pages intact with possible writing/highlighting. Binding strong with minor wear. Dust jackets/supplements may not be included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good. Seller Inventory # 19040371-6

Synopsis:

Math and science hold powerful places in contemporary society, setting the foundations for entry into some of the most robust and highest-paying industries. However, effective math and science education is not equally available to all students, with some of the poorest students—those who would benefit most—going egregiously underserved. This ongoing problem with education highlights one of the core causes of the widening class gap.

While this educational inequality can be attributed to a number of economic and political causes, in Empowering Science and Mathematics Education in Urban Communities, Angela Calabrese Barton and Edna Tan demonstrate that it is augmented by a consistent failure to integrate student history, culture, and social needs into the core curriculum. They argue that teachers and schools should create hybrid third spaces—neither classroom nor home—in which underserved students can merge their personal worlds with those of math and science. A host of examples buttress this argument: schools where these spaces have been instituted now provide students not only an immediate motivation to engage the subjects most critical to their future livelihoods but also the broader math and science literacy necessary for robust societal engagement. A unique look at a frustratingly understudied subject, Empowering Science and Mathematics Education pushes beyond the idea of teaching for social justice and into larger questions of how and why students participate in math and science.

About the Author: Edna Tan is assistant professor of science education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Angela Calabrese Barton is professor of science education at Michigan State University. She is the author of Teaching Science for Social Justice and Feminist Science Education, coauthor of Rethinking Scientific Literacy, and coeditor of Teaching Science in Diverse Settings: Marginalized Discourses and Classroom Practice.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Empowering Science and Mathematics Education...
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication Date: 2012
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Very Good