Instructionally Supportive Tasks in Practice: Considerations of Equity and Inclusion during task enactment
November 8, 2019
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Krystal Madden, University of Illinois at Chicago, Learning Sciences Research Institute
Abstract
With the United States student demographics shifting to include more students from diverse backgrounds, it is important that instructional materials be created to give all students opportunities to learn. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) integrate a 3-dimensional framework for science education intended to have all students in mind. This 3-dimensional learning includes the integration of disciplinary ideas, scientific practices, and overarching concepts within and across disciplines. The Next Generation Science Assessment (NGSA) project is an effort to design 3-D classroom assessments aligned with the NGSS. This project designed tasks for use in middle school science classrooms that focused on integrating the three dimensions while also attending to issues of fairness and equity in the design process. Tasks were enacted in classrooms and data collected on the enactments. Following those enactments, teachers were asked a series of questions regarding their methods of enactment. This study digs deeper into the instructional moves made by teachers a well as their reflections about task enactment. This study was done in the context of the larger NGSA data collection. Task selection was based on the focus of the NGSA study. Data were collected from a middle school science classroom where students were following an NGSS aligned curriculum. Teachers enacted selected NGSA tasks and completed reflective questions about their enactments. The analysis was done to unpack ways in which tasks provided teachers opportunities to engage in aspects of culturally relevant teaching to provide access to the tasks.
Bio
Krystal Madden is a 5th year Learning Sciences student at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has a BS in Biology from Jackson State University and a MS in Comparative Pathobiology from Purdue University. She is a former K-12 educator and laboratory scientist. Krystal currently serves as the Education program chair at Ivy Tech Communication in Valparaiso, IN. Krystal’s research interests include equity and inclusion in classroom assessment design, cultural aspects of learning, how identity impacts learning and learning experiences, and the persistence of underrepresented groups, specifically African American women, in the laboratory-based natural sciences.
Date posted
Nov 8, 2019
Date updated
Nov 8, 2019