Cultural Studies of Science Education

Keifert, D. T.

doi: 10.1007/s11422-026-10280-ypmid: N/A

Children develop repertoires of practice through engagement across communities. Dominant conceptualizations of classrooms-as-containers do not make space for practices developed outside of school. Transformative conceptualizations account for lived experience, cultural repertoires, and historicity to elucidate how past, present, and future are entangled with powered systems in routine classroom interactions. I examine how the metaphor of entanglements as a lens on learning supports understanding how practices can and should be entangled with classroom learning. I ask, how can entanglements as a lens support identifying how cultural repertoires shape present learning and emergent futures? I draw on critical interaction analysis and prior analysis of a European-heritage, white child’s family culture to understand the moment she attempts to engage her white preschool classroom teacher in an inquiry practice. Despite sharing significant cultural repertoires, the child introduces a new practice unfamiliar to the teacher. I show the competent ways the child recruits her teachers’ attention, obstacles that emerge, and a resulting barrier. I use the lens of entanglements to understand child and teachers’ demonstrable understanding of the interaction, showing they are engaged in different practices while attending to the same phenomenon. While such challenges are omnipresent in classrooms, which by their nature include diverse cultural repertoires, the barrier is the result of a powered relationship that hinders children’s use of their repertoires. I therefore illustrate how analyzing one singular moment through the lens of entanglements prepares analysts and educators to understand the emergence of broader patterns of barriers or hybrid/third spaces.

Chapman, Angela; Medina-Jerez, William; Schall, Janine M.; Ganesan, Uma; Lynch-Arroyo, Ruby; Ortiz, Miriam; Tschoshanov, Mourat

doi: 10.1007/s11422-026-10282-wpmid: N/A

Today’s diverse science learning environments have prompted educators to adopt more culturally responsive approaches. National initiatives such as the Framework for K–12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards emphasize the importance of engaging preservice teachers (PSTs) in culturally relevant curriculum design, particularly to support student populations that have been marginalized. Drawing from Testimonio scholarship, we align with scholars who elevate the value and pedagogical power of students’ voices and home experiences—stories often silenced or untold. This qualitative case study uses a three-phase approach—(1) Funds of Knowledge exploration, (2) theoretical grounding and lesson design, and (3) STEM lesson implementation and reflection—to examine how Latina/o PSTs draw on community knowledge to embed cultural wisdom into STEM instruction for students in the US–México border region. The study highlights the significance of PSTs’ awakening to the relevance of both teacher and student Funds of Knowledge in developing culturally meaningful lessons that extend science learning beyond the classroom. The implications for teacher education are significant: When PSTs recognize their cultural assets as pedagogically valuable, they are better prepared to engage with and affirm the cultural wealth of their students’ communities. Grounded in culturally relevant pedagogy and community cultural wealth, the study analyzed transcripts from family interviews conducted by six PSTs and from their conference panel presentations. A thematic analysis identified cross-case patterns while honoring unique contextual factors. Findings show that engaging PSTs in culturally reflective practices fosters a reimagined science educator identity—one that views science teaching as a culturally grounded, community-connected practice.

Waymouth, Heather Elizabeth

doi: 10.1007/s11422-026-10279-5pmid: N/A

Both sensemaking and science literacy are goals of the Next Generation Science Standards. However, sensemaking and literacy are conceptualized in multiple ways within science education research and literacy education research. This study describes the shift in one teacher’s perspectives on scientific sensemaking and literacy in her middle school science teaching during her participation in professional development. Cultural-historical Activity Theory is used as a theoretical and analytical framework for examining how two moments of tension within a professional development setting illustrated literacy as both operational and arising from systemic contradictions. Though results are limited by the singular context of the study, they imply that science teachers’ attention to literacy may be more extensive than previously reported on national surveys, as this attention may consist of unconscious or subconscious operations, rather than deliberate actions, in which science teachers engage while planning for sensemaking-oriented science instruction.

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doi: 10.1007/s11422-026-10283-9pmid: N/A

Fernandes, Geraldo Wellington Rocha; Rodrigues, António M.; Gomes, Juliana Alves Torres

doi: 10.1007/s11422-026-10285-7pmid: N/A

This article aims to advocate for a position regarding the articulation between Paulo Freire’s problem-posing and dialogical education and Basil Bernstein’s theory of linguistic codes, as a means to reconfigure the formal science curriculum from a critical perspective, with the goal of overcoming the reproduction of social and cultural inequalities. The article presents a theoretical reflection that connects Freire’s concept of generative theme to the structure of Bernstein’s Pedagogic Discourse Device, proposing a model of the Freire-Bernstein Pedagogic Discourse Device. Recognizing that current science curricula often neglect the specific social issues of school communities, thereby reinforcing the urgency of more contextualized, critical, and socially engaged pedagogical practices, the paper argues that a dialogical and problem-posing approach can enhance the recognition of restricted codes and invisible pedagogy present in students’ lived experiences. It also highlights the role of the primary and cultural contextual field (family/community) as a recontextualizing element of the curriculum.