Working towards responsive science education pedagogies during a time of crisis: centering community, diversity and access

Children, teachers, and families internationally are navigating new terrains of remote learning and teaching during the COVID-19 crisis, and this extends to the University of Luxembourg's SciTeach Center team, a multidisciplinary group of educators and researchers dedicated to supporting primary and pre-primary science education. Luxembourg’s schools closed mid-March 2020, with rapid implementation of online/distance schooling. By mid-May, the national scenario started changing with deconfinement stages, and schools adopted blended in-person/distance structure of rotating “A” and “B” weeks of instruction, ending the year with two weeks of “back to normal”.

What are we wondering about?
The SciTeach team responded to changing circumstances with several initiatives to support science education within new structures. The team’s interactions in response to the pandemic and resulting outcomes are the focus of a case study utilizing ethnographic methods and discourse analysis. We are examining planning discussions and development of remote science education resources for in-service teachers, children, and caregivers, with a purpose of identifying essential steps in the process, and the resulting impacts of changes.

Why is this wondering important?
This wondering will elaborate an adaptation process as we transitioned to online modes of interacting, reflecting on the applicability of responsive pedagogies during crisis. This crisis has exposed issues of equity and access, in particular with the high percentage of students who do not speak the languages of instruction at home (more than half) and has given rise to questions about what structural changes will/can remain ahead. As our main goal is to support children’s engagement in science, we discuss benefits and challenges associated with these responses as they were developed not with the intent to only respond, but to offer teachers a sustainable approach to support students in engaging in science moving forward.

What approaches frame our thinking?
Grounded in sociocultural theoretical perspectives (Sewell, 1999), we understand the teaching-learning processes as cultural enactment, and we draw on translanguaging perspectives (García, 2009) and multimodal approaches (Kress, 2004). Our theoretical and methodological approach is grounded as bricolage (Kincheloe, 2001), and we hope to honor the diversity and complexity of engaging in research with participants. We seek to trouble the existing policy-based notions of science "proficiency" as we consider diverse ways teachers, students, and families engage in science education, with a particular focus on examining issues of equity and access during crisis.

Why is our wondering important to equity, diversity and / or social justice in science
education?
The overarching purpose of this work is identifying the adaptation process and reflecting upon the resulting impacts of changes. Issues of access and equity are multiple, for teachers, children, and caregivers, and our wondering focuses on three questions:
• How can we work towards resource-rich approaches for working with students – to build on what they know and wonder – and make openings for engaging in science inquiry?
• How can we support equitable student access to science, given the range of languages and technology access?
• How can we keep and nurture community during times of rapid unplanned changes, and shifting interaction structures?