Archive: Book Beat Live! Social Justice in the Science Classroom, March 16, 2022

Science classes are diverse places where students bring many identities to the learning experiences being shared by their science teachers. All students bring different lived experiences to our classrooms. It is imperative we honor their identities and positionalities to provide them with science lessons that make science an engaging place for all.

In this seminar, authors of  the NSTA publication Social Justice in the Science Classroom will share teaching activities and tips, and provide current research- based strategies for making science classrooms more socially just places for all students.

  • Sam Long will provide strategies for centering and navigating LGBTQ+ topics in the science classroom using genetic inheritance.
  • María González-Howard, Sage Andersen & Karina Méndez Pérez will demonstrate how to enhance science lessons to support multilingual students’ engagement in science and engineering practices.
  • Ann Haley MacKenzie will provide multiple lesson and unit plan ideas which infuse social justice in the science classroom, such as the Flint Michigan water crisis, the Tuskegee syphilis medical maltreatment of Blacks, denial of greenspace, industrial dumping, and many others.

All individuals receive a certificate of participation and 100 NSTA activity points for attending the live seminar and completing the end-of-program survey. A certificate of participation is not awarded for watching the recorded version of the program.

We invite you to register for upcoming web seminars at NSTA.

View the Archive Video

To view the presentation slides from the web seminar and related resources, visit the resource collection. Continue discussing this topic in the community forums.

Below are comments from individuals who attended the seminar:

  • "I believe the discussions surround the decentering of humans in the discussions and teachings surrounding genetics and heredity were the most valuable and pertinent to me and my colleagues as we have been discussing how to be most respectful in regards to these topics in the past few months."
  • "I love the part about gender identity and biology! I have been wondering some things about this recently when I observed a HS biology class about chromosomes."
  • "The presenters did a phenomenal job of presenting information while also keeping the audience involved. Asking for others opinions really kept the interaction going."

A certificate of attendance was deposited into participants' account page for completing the evaluation form at the end of the program.

For more information contact: [email protected]

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