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African American Students (african + american_student)
Selected AbstractsCreating a Culturally Responsive Learning Environment for African American StudentsNEW DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHING & LEARNING, Issue 82 2000Mary F. Howard-Hamilton This chapter explores the creation of a culturally responsive learning environment for students and faculty. How African American and white students as well as faculty develop a strong identity and healthy interpersonal relationships is translated into teaching practice. [source] Traveling the road to success: A discourse on persistence throughout the science pipeline with African American students at a predominantly white institutionJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 6 2005Melody L. Russell This study focuses on 11 African American undergraduate seniors in a biology degree program at a predominantly white research institution in the southeastern United States. These 11 respondents shared their journeys throughout the high school and college science pipeline. Participants described similar precollege factors and experiences that contributed to their academic success and persistence at a predominantly white institution. One of the most critical factors in their academic persistence was participation in advanced science and mathematics courses as part of their high school college preparatory program. Additional factors that had a significant impact on their persistence and academic success were family support, teacher encouragement, intrinsic motivation, and perseverance. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] The black,white "achievement gap" as a perennial challenge of urban science education: A sociocultural and historical overview with implications for research and practice,JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 10 2001Obed Norman A perennial challenge for urban education in the United States is finding effective ways to address the academic achievement gap between African American and White students. There is widespread and justified concern about the persistence of this achievement gap. In fact, historical evidence suggests that this achievement gap has existed at various times for groups other than African Americans. What conditions prevailed when this achievement gap existed for these other groups? Conversely, under what conditions did the gap diminish and eventually disappear for these groups? This article explores how sociocultural factors involved in the manifestation and eventual disappearance of the gap for these groups may shed some light on how to address the achievement gap for African American students in urban science classrooms. Our conclusion is that the sociocultural position of groups is crucial to understanding and interpreting the scholastic performance of students from various backgrounds. We argue for a research framework and the exploration of research questions incorporating insights from Ogbu's cultural, ecological theory, as well as goal theory, and identity theory. We present these as theories that essentially focus on student responses to societal disparities. Our ultimate goal is to define the problem more clearly and contribute to the development of research-based classroom practices that will be effective in reducing and eventually eliminating the achievement gap. We identify the many gaps in society and the schools that need to be addressed in order to find effective solutions to the problem of the achievement gap. Finally, we propose that by understanding the genesis of the gap and developing strategies to harness the students' responses to societal disparities, learning can be maximized and the achievement gap can be significantly reduced, if not eliminated entirely, in urban science classrooms. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 1101,1114, 2001 [source] Design, technology, and science: Sites for learning, resistance, and social reproduction in urban schoolsJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 7 2001Gale Seiler The teaching of science through activities that emphasize design and technology has been advocated as a vehicle for accomplishing science for all students. This study was situated in an inner7-city neighborhood school populated mainly by African American students from life worlds characterized by poverty. The article explores the discourse and practices of students and three coteachers as a curriculum was enacted to provide opportunities for students to learn about the physics of motion through designing, building, and testing a model car. Some students participated in ways that led to their building viable model cars and interacting with one another in ways that suggest design and technological competence. However, there also was evidence of resistance from students who participated sporadically and refused to cooperate with teachers as they endeavored to structure the environment in ways that would lead to a deeper understanding of science. Analysis of in-class interactions reveals an untapped potential for the emergence of a sciencelike discourse and diverse outcomes. Among the challenges explored in this article is a struggle for respect that permeates the students' lives on the street and bleeds into the classroom environment. Whereas teachers enacted the curriculum as if learning was the chief goal for students, it is apparent that students used the class opportunistically to maintain and earn the respect of peers. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 746,767, 2001 [source] Becoming a Hurdler: How Learning Settings Afford IdentitiesANTHROPOLOGY & EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2009Na'ilah Suad Nasir In this article, we present a model for thinking about how learning settings provide resources for the development of the practice-linked identities of participants, drawing on data from a study on an African American high school track and field team. What does it mean to make an identity available in the context of a learning setting? In this article, we draw on current theories in anthropology, psychology, sociology, and sociocultural theory to develop a conceptual frame that might be helpful in addressing these questions. We focus on how individuals are offered (and how they take up) identities in cultural activities. We define three types of identity resources that were made available to student-athletes learning to run track and explore how they took shape in teaching and learning interactions in track.,[identity, learning, African American students, culture] [source] Street Codes in High School: School as an Educational DeterrentCITY & COMMUNITY, Issue 3 2007Pedro Mateu-Gelabert Elsewhere we have documented how conflict between adolescents in the streets shapes conflict in the schools. Here we consider the impact of street codes on the culture and environment of the schools themselves, and the effect of this culture and on the students' commitment and determination to participate in their own education. We present the high school experiences of first-generation immigrants and African American students, distinguishing between belief in education and commitment to school. In an environment characterized by ineffective control and nonengaging classes, often students are not socialized around academic values and goals. Students need to develop strategies to remain committed to education while surviving day to day in an unsafe, academically limited school environment. These processes are sometimes seen as minority "resistance" to educational norms. Instead, our data suggest that the nature of the schools in which minority students find themselves has a greater influence on sustaining or dissuading students' commitment to education than do their immigration status or cultural backgrounds. [source] | |||||||||||||