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Fact or Faux?

Focus on Physics

A classroom guide to resources about misinformation

Editor's Corner September/October 2024

This paper explores a restorative-type intervention with a high school student who is suspended from school for repeated threats to other students. Throughout the paper, we explore the use of restorative practices in the context of science teaching. Science in process and content is used in tandem with various restorative practices to provide the student a lens through which to better understand what led to her suspension, learn science content, and find perspective change in the process as it pertains to her developing sense of self. The methods and tools are then transformed into practical use through a modified version of the 5E method of science inquiry that targets student emotions and support the formation of logic.

This biology lesson uses the science of central dogma to “critique and question the politics of representation that systematically devalue[s] Blackness” (hooks, 1995, p.131). Students’ understanding of protein synthesis is extended in discussing melanin and its significance to protecting the body from harmful radiation from the sun. Through data analysis, students are able to explain the function of melanin and the evolutionary benefits to various skin colors. In addition to a discussion on the biology of skin color and the gene responsible (mc1r), students engage in a lesson that is culturally relevant/responsive. Through challenging racist ideologies and understanding the biology of skin color, students are the center of discussions on racism and the impacts of the social construction of race. The title “Black is Beautiful” is inspired by Jamaican reggae artist Chronixx and the work of Michelle Grace Williams, “They Never Told Us Black is Beautiful: Fostering Black Joy and Pro-Blackness Pedagogies in Early Childhood Classrooms”. Through artivism, students challenge eurocentric ideologies on beauty and genius through literary or visual arts. In addition to being an act of activism, artwork will also demonstrate an understanding of melanin’s role.

The ability of our northern Indigenous peoples (Inuit, Iñupiaq, and Yupik) to survive and thrive in the Arctic depends significantly upon underlying chemistry and chemical principles. Here, we explore four of these connections, then show how the Indigenous experience can be incorporated into science and chemistry courses. To accomplish our goals, we have have knitted together the Indigenous experimental knowledge and cultural background of two Inuit science students with the depth and breadth of chemistry knowledge of a teaching-focussed chemistry professor. Their combined investigations resulted in a series of published articles explaining the chemistry underpinning many aspects of Inuit life in the Arctic. Then we provide commentaries of the experiences of two high school science teachers who have incorporated this work into their chemistry and science classes in very different teaching environments. We contend that incorporating contextualized Indigenous content is important for two main reasons. Making chemistry more relevant for Indigenous students will spark their interest in the subject, make them feel valued, and possibly proceed to further science studies. Incorporating Indigenous-relevant chemistry for the wider population of students will enable them to appreciate the sophistication of an Indigenous culture and add an additional dimension to their chemistry studies.