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This longitudinal critical ethnographic study gave voices to Black and Brown girls who are racially and traditionally marginalized in STEM education. With the understanding that current science curricula are not culturally inclusive (Adjapong & Emdin, 2015; Atwater, 1996; Emdin, 2016; Ladson-Billings, 1995; Mensah, 2012; Takaki, 2012), the researchers explored the girls' responses to a science program that focused on addressing some of the existing cultural divides between urban youth of color and their counterparts, namely the Science Genius program. The goal of the study was to find out if the confidence and the engagement level of Black and Brown girls changed, and to what extent negative societal stereotypes about Black and Brown girls in science could be addressed if science were culturally relevant to their daily lives. We argue that the results of the study will provide insight into how to increase the diverse pool of participants into STEM career fields.

This paper explores, educators' use of technology to supplement traditional professional development that they may receive in their schools or institutions. Many educators in the 21st century use various forms of technology as part of their daily teaching practices and as part of their personal lives. This paper sets out to explore the impact of a weekly education-focused Twitter chat on educators' professional learning. The authors also set out to identify a weekly educational Twitter chat as a Virtual Professional Learning Network (VPLN). They identify a VPLN as a uniquely personalized space where participants can engage in dialogue with a network of individuals from around the world via social media platforms such as Twitter (and other social media platforms) to support one another's continuous professional learning. Garrison (2007) describes an online PLN as a synchronous or asynchronous online platform for individuals to collaboratively engage in critical thinking and discussions around specific issues (Trinkle, 2009).

This ethnographic case study follows two urban immigrant students in their yearlong journey in an urban science classroom where the first two pedagogic tools of reality pedagogy (cogenerative dialogue and co-teaching) were implemented. This study examines the role reality pedagogy plays in the science classroom for these two students, while focusing on their social capital and how distributed cognition is used to frame understanding. The three emergent themes that were generated and observed among the two participants indicated that the implementation of the first two tools of reality pedagogy increased the two immigrant students' participation within their science classroom, increased opportunities for voice in the classroom, and increased ability to access the human and physical resources of the classroom for the participants' own benefit. The study revealed that both students' social capital was impacted and the frame of distributed cognition played a role in their science classroom participation. Implications relate to the importance of developing community within science classrooms for immigrant students.

This paper offers a theoretical and practical approach to teaching and learning in STEM education. We uncover the deficits in existing STEM pedagogies while outlining a culturally relevant/responsive model that reveals the science genius of youth who are marginalized in contemporary STEM classrooms. Through an analysis of the concept cultural agnosia, we suggest hip-hop as treatment of the condition and an approach for a more culturally rich approach to instruction.

The underrepresentation of girls and students of color in STEM fields, particularly in science, is an ongoing issue that is very well documented. There is a limited amount of research that provides insight on experiences of girls, especially girls of color, who have been exposed to authentic science experiences. This article interrogates the effects of experiential learning on students' science identity and interest in pursuing a career in STEM, specifically for girls of color. This study provides insight into girls of color experience of authentic science internships where they followed a traditional working scientist schedule, the use of, or referencing of specific science knowledge, and use of traditional science lab equipment. Through this study researchers found that after participating in the authentic science internship, students became more confident to pursue careers in STEM-related fields and envisioned the field of science and STEM-related fields as approachable and accessible.

This article explores the dynamic between Black youth and their teachers through an exploration of an approach to teaching and learning embedded in the complex cultural knowledge(s) of this population. It interrogates the concepts of ratchedemics and reality pedagogy as both philosophy and practice for moving past the framing of particular populations as dystopian and non-academic in the pursuit of the mirage of urban educational utopia.

A significant amount of research regarding Hip-Hop Based Education (HHBE) fails to provide insight on how to incorporate elements of Hip-Hop into daily teaching practices; rather Hip-Hop based educators focus mainly on incorporating Hip-Hop culture into curricula. This study explores the benefits of using two specific Hip-Hop pedagogical practices in an urban science classroom. Call-and-response and co-teaching, two different pedagogical approaches that are related to Hip-Hop culture, were implemented and studied to understand their benefits in an urban science classroom. Participants in this study are middle school students who attend an urban school in one of the largest school systems in the country. This study provides insight on ways Hip-Hop can be incorporated into the art and science of teaching, extending current HHBE research, which mainly discusses how Hip-Hop can be used to design curricula based on music and rhymes. Through this study the researchers find that Hip-Hop pedagogical practices studied in this paper support students science content acquisition, connects science content to students' realities, and encourages their voice and agency.

This paper is based on an exploration of communication and argumentation in urban science classrooms, and provides a description of the role that Hip-hop based education plays in supporting these major components of science education. The paper is intended to both support, and critique conventional uses of hip-hop based education, and provide insight into the rap battle and the hip-hop cypher; two under-focused upon aspects of hip-hop culture that have tremendous pedagogical potential.

This article explores a model for school counselors to capitalize on the therapeutic, empowerment-oriented nature of hip-hop practices to engage in youth participatory action research (YPAR). Drawing from research that supports the use of hip-hop therapy and YPAR in schools, we propose a culturally sensitive group counseling process wherein students use hip-hop lyric writing, recording, and performing to critically analyze, research, and report on issues of personal importance to them.

This article articulates the results of an ongoing study in an urban school in New York City in which student and teacher researchers engage in practices that support the science success of the schools' predominantly Latino/a and African American population. By situating the study in the nature of corporate and communal practices, the article demonstrates the necessity for an expansion of approaches to teaching and learning that includes students' ways of knowing. Furthermore, the article shows the emergence of analogy as an outcome of embracing communal teaching practices.

In this article, Christopher Emdin articulates what he considers a necessary stance on the education of urban youth of color who are deeply embedded in hip-hop. He brings singer/songwriter Stevie Wonder and Maxine Greene into the discussion to highlight the ways that these youth can be imagined differently and taught to their strengths and gifts, which are often misread by teachers and schools. According to Emdin, hip-hop youth occupy what Spivak (1998) calls subaltern positions that cast them as inferior to students from other geographic areas and of other ethnic and racial backgrounds. Greene argues that moving them beyond these positions/narratives or creating the conditions that allow them to move beyond these societally fixed narratives requires an approach to teaching that focuses on moving educators and institutions to create contexts that allow for what she calls "becoming." Stevie Wonder argues that these new contexts must first be imagined before human beings can be actualized. In his article, Emdin argues through Greene and Wonder that the work of becoming is necessary for both teacher and student and requires a deliberate process of looking inwards (innervisions), focusing outwards in the key of life, and releasing tensions/imagining new possibilities (sublimation).

In this article, the author describes a lens for engaging in research and practice in urban education rooted in deep cultural understandings of the concept of building bridges and the impact of cultural agnosia.

Purpose: This paper aims to argue that providing youth of color with opportunities to explore content while reflecting on and sharing mental health concerns is an under-focused dimension of teaching and learning that has the potential to positively impact these students' academic achievement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines Design/methodology/approach: This paper used a qualitative study to interrogate a teaching/learning model through a hip-hop-based science program. Findings: Because urban youth of color are traditionally most disengaged in STEM and also the ones who are the least likely to seek or be provided with mental health tools/services, it is suggested that there is a connection between their low academic achievement and the absence of opportunities for them to address emotions that impact their academic success. Furthermore, if these youths come from communities where mental health stressors are highly prevalent, and teaching is most restrictive, a model for teaching that considers practices that address both their academic and mental health needs becomes necessary. Research limitations/implications: This work does not intend to devalue or undermine the role of school counselors or traditional teachers. It is believed that the role of the school counselor or social worker when youths identify themes that go beyond the scope of personal challenges is significant and that these professionals should be made available when engaging in this type of work. It is also believed that the educator who may not be privy to hip-hop can successfully engage in this type of activity with STEM students. Finally, the use of science as an exemplar for engaging in this work does not indicate that the other STEM disciplines cannot or should not explore this type of model. Practical implications: The paper outlines a model that other educators/researchers may use and suggests ways that this brand of research may be implemented by scholars across the country. Social implications: Through the implementation of the hip-hop-based science program as an intervention in science classrooms, students are provided the opportunity to bolster science content knowledge and knowledge of self. In addition, utilizing the hip-hop-based science program created an avenue for teachers to develop better understanding of students and their full socioemotional selves. This is especially necessary in STEM education where perceptions of students' decisions to not engage in the disciplines are directly related to our collective unwillingness to present the subject matter in a way that goes beyond the glorification of its stoic and "old white" history. Originality/value: This paper suggests a new dimension of STEM research through an exploration of hip-hop culture and youth emotions.

Throughout the country, urban teacher education programs ubiquitously employ the terms "diversity" and "social justice" on their websites. But—what do these terms mean and how do they influence (if at all) the programs represented by these terms according to the lived experiences of students of color in these programs? Through historical trauma theory, this study seeks to understand the experiences of teachers of color who graduated from urban teacher education programs that employed "diversity" and "social justice" on their websites. Through the analysis of interviews conducted with eight teachers of color, it unveils how teacher education programs dehumanize and exclude pre-service teachers of color, fostering psychological violence, promoting segregation and displacement, and cultivating economic deprivation. Findings show that the rhetorical and visual portraits of "diversity" and "social justice" on these programs' websites are experienced by teachers of color as incongruent to their lived experiences within them. In particular, the outward facing diverse racial images do not reflect the populations these teacher education programs serve (mostly white) and the classroom and field experiences are dissonant from the commitments the programs espouse. Implications call for transforming teacher education from spaces where historical trauma is reproduced to spaces where racial healing and reconciliation can occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the chief issues surrounding low achievement of black males in schools one must acknowledge the inability of education systems to accept that there are ways of looking at the world, communication modes, and approaches to teaching that are unique to black males. The author developed five tools for teaching black males: Cogenerative dialogues, coteaching, cosmopolitanism, context, and content. They are based on the fact that when black males are in social spaces that align with their core identities, their desires to think critically, make keen observations, support these observations with facts, and engage in dialogue are activated.

Plenty of reports and research have documented the achievement gap between black males and other students. But few have acknowledged that current structures and practices have contributed to that gap. To address the low achievement of black males, schools must be willing to accept that there are ways of looking at the world, modes of communication, and approaches to teaching and learning that are unique to black males. At the same time, educators must also acknowledge that these unique ways of being are just as complex as those of other students. The tie that binds all students is the desire to be academically successful. Too often, educators are afraid to acknowledge that differences exist between black males and others. However, once difference is fully acknowledged, educators can equip themselves with tools that can be used to encourage black males to become more interested and effective learners. In this article, the author discusses five tools and how to use them to engage the black male students in the classroom and start to close the achievement gap.

Background/Context: With the ever increasing diversity of schools, and the persistent need to develop teaching strategies for the students who attend today's urban schools, hip-hop culture has been proposed to be a means through which urban youth can find success in school. As a result, studies of the role of hip-hop in urban education have grown in visibility. Research targeted toward understanding the involvement of urban youth in hip-hop and finding ways to connect them to school often rest primarily on the role of rap lyrics and focus exclusively on language arts and social studies classes. Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this article is to move beyond the existing research to science education by utilizing an ongoing study to interrogate hip-hop culture, its relation to the "Obama effect," and the role of hip-hop culture in creating new possibilities for urban youth in science. The discussion of hip-hop in urban schooling is grounded in the concept of social capital to explain what makes hip-hop youth who they are and how this knowledge can become a tool for supporting their academic success. Specifically, the discussion is based on theoretical constructs related to hip-hop in urban settings, including social networks, identity, and realness and emotional energy. Research Design: To explore the complexities of hip-hop and the impact of the artifacts it generates on urban science education, we examined qualitative data illustrating the enactment of hip-hopness or a hip-hop identity in urban science classrooms. Specifically, we examined the "Obama effect" and its connection to hip-hop and science education. Findings: The findings indicate that when teachers bring hip-hop into their science instruction, certain markers of interest and involvement that were previously absent from science classrooms become visible. Especially, the examples of the Obama effect in urban high school science classrooms in this article illustrate that science educators can strengthen hip-hop youth's connections to school and science by consistently using the science-related decisions President Obama is making as opportunities to teach science. Conclusions: By engaging in a concerted focus on hip-hop culture, science educators can connect urban youth to science in ways that generate a genuine recognition of who they are, an appreciation of their motivation for academic success, and an understanding of how to capitalize on hip-hop culture for their identities as science learners. Such efforts can eventually lead urban youth to become "the best and brightest" in the science classroom and pursue careers in science-related fields.

This article describes, and then applies a newly developed framework for classroom citizenship as an entry point into addressing social justice issues in urban science classrooms. The author provides in-depth descriptions of cogenerative dialogues, coteaching, and cosmopolitanism (3Cs), and presents this triad of tools as an approach to research/practice that addresses full participation of youth in an urban physics classroom. By describing the 3Cs, in an urban classroom, the author presents under-discussed issues that inhibit urban youth from fully participating in urban science classrooms, as an inhibitor to social justice within the classroom. (Contains 2 figures.)

This paper is birthed from my lifelong experiences as student, teacher, administrator, and researcher in urban science classrooms. This includes my years as a minority student in biology, chemistry, and physics classrooms, 10 tears as science teacher and high school science department chair, 5-years conducting research on youth experiences in urban science classrooms, and current work in preparing science teachers for teaching in urban schools. These experiences afford me both emic and etic lenses through which to view urban science classrooms and urban youth communities. This paper, both experiential and research based, forms an ethnography of urban youth communication and introduces the science education community to an aspect of science teaching that has been overlooked in traditional science education research. In documenting urban youth communication across social fields, this paper contributes to the research in science education that addresses science talk with urban youth in science classrooms (C. Ballenger, 1997; P. Gee, 1997). More specifically, I utilize the lenses I bring to urban science education research to interrogate the larger research questions of whether urban students' modes of communication are supported in the urban science classroom and the effects of this support or lack thereof on true participation/engagement of urban youth in science. (Contains 1 table.)

Much of the research that focuses on the academic success of Black youth in urban science education does not consider the provision of tools that educators can use in becoming more effective. This article discusses this issue, and introduces an approach to pedagogy--reality pedagogy--which includes five distinct types of practices (the 5 C's) which teachers can implement in their classrooms to facilitate effective science instruction. I describe the 5 C's of reality pedagogy; discuss ways they can he implemented; and show how they can both support the effectiveness of urban science teachers and the agency of Black youth in their classrooms.

The critiques of rap artists and other participants in hip-hop culture provide data for teachers and researchers to investigate the attitudes of US urban youth towards schooling. This study explores the complex relationships between hip-hop and science education by examining how rap lyrics project beliefs about schooling, the relevance of existing curriculum, and the intellectual capability of urban youth. These lyrics also provide a synopsis of this population's alienation from schooling and from science education in particular. By examining student discourses in two US high schools, this study shows how co-generative dialogues, and other classroom procedures derived from hip-hop culture, may be used to modify teaching and learning in science and to ameliorate urban students' alienation from schools. (Contains 18 notes.)

In this article I explore research in urban science education inspired by the work of Kris Gutierrez in a paper based on her 2005 Scribner Award. It addresses key points in Gutierrez's work by exploring theoretical frameworks for research and approaches to teaching and research that expand the discourse on the agency of urban youth in corporate school settings. The work serves as an overview of under-discussed approaches and theoretical frameworks to consider in teaching and conducting research with marginalized urban youth in urban science classrooms.