Science Literacy in Theory and Practice: A Sociocultural Analysis of Teacher Cognition in a Multicultural Setting by Isaac Llewellyn Jackson B.S., Cinema Arts State University of New York - Binghamton M.S. Computers in Education Bank Street College of Education SUBMITTED TO THE MEDIA ARTS AND SCIENCES SECTION, SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY AT THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY JUNE 1992 © Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1992 All Rights Reserved Signature of the Author Media Arts and Sciences Section () May 1,1992 Certified by Edith Ackermann, Ph. D. Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences Accepted by --vStephen A. Benton Chairperson Departmental Committee on Graduate Students Rotf~i Page 1 MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOl nY ASEP 2 4 1992 Science Literacy in Theory and Practice: A Sociocultural Analysis of Teacher Cognition in a Multicultural Setting by Isaac Llewellyn Jackson B.S., Cinema Arts State University of New York - Binghamton M.S. Computers in Education Bank Street College of Education Submitted to the Media Arts and Sciences Section, School of Architecture and Planning, on May 1, 1992, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Abstract Why is it that children of certain sociocultural groups do so "poorly" in science programs - even in those programs that claim to honor diversity and build on student's own conceptual models and theories? This dissertation is a case study that addresses the complexities of teaching science to diverse populations. There is a lot of rhetoric about making all children scientifically literate, regardless of sociocultural position in society, but there has been little work on trying to understand the hidden assumptions behind such efforts. In focusing on notions of science literacy, my work seeks to examine how, in the course of a model science project, a teacher and two researchers brought different assumptions about the meaning of science literacy to the project and produced varying practices. The goal of this project is to move from a view of science teaching as a purely cognitive activity towards a more sociocultural view. With a sociocultural perspective, we can begin to address science teaching in multicultural settings. Thesis supervisor: Edith Ackermann Title: Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences Page 2 Doctoral Committee Thesis Advisor: Edith Ackermann Associate Professor Media Arts and Sciences, M.I.T. Media Laboratory Thesis Readers: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Allan Collins Professor of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University Jam Paul Gee Professor of Linguistics, University of Southern California Henry Wenkins Assistant Professor of Literature, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Contents Abstract 2 Doctoral Committee 3 Acknowledgments 5 Dedication 6 Preface 7 1) Background chapter 11 2) Methods 35 3) The Research Setting 52 4) Classroom Discourses in Conflict 74 5) Sociocultural Analysis of Teacher Cognition 97 6) The Social Gravity of Cognitive Research 126 7) Conclusions 141 Bibliography 147 Appendices 164 Page 4 Acknowledgments "Without love in the dream, it can never come true" -Robert Hunter The work presented in this dissertation is the result of my association with many people of remarkable vision, wisdom and generosity. I would like to especially thank those whom I worked closely with during the final year of writing: My committee members: Edith Ackermann, my committee advisor, for her support of the development of my ideas. Edith's creative scholarship is finely balanced with her humanity. Jim Gee, for encouraging me to take literacy seriously as a field of study and to believe I could contribute to it. Allan Collins for stimulating discussions and intellectual challenges. Henry Jenkins, for helping me to see the necessity to ground sociocultural theory within an appreciation of popular culture. I like to also thank the faculty, students, research and support staff of the Epistemology and Learning Group, MIT Media Lab; The Literacies Institute; Professor Mel King at the Urban Studies and Planning Department at MIT and Professor Joseph Maxwell at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard. For allowing me study their everyday life, I wish to thank teachers, students and staff at the Sandy Heights School; the Design Experiment team; and a very special thanks to Lenny Douglas for spending so much of his time with me. The following people are part of my "intentional" family. These are the people who remained my friends despite all the personality disorders dissertations tend to produce in graduate students. I would not have been able to survive without our late night phone calls, electronic mail, long walks and all the other things friends do together: Ken Moffatt, Betty Krier, Paula Hooper, Ruth Walker, Moira Inghilleri, Arthur Levine, Annette Henry, Judit Moschovich, James Abbott, Douglas Robertson, David R. Smith ('the other one'); Robert Feldman, and Mark O' Malley. My parents were also there when I needed them and I am thankful. The research reported here was supported by several funding agencies: . Apple Computer Company . IBM Corporation (Grant #OSP95952) - National Science Foundation (Grant # 851031-0195) National Science Foundation (Grant # MDR-8751190) - National Science Foundation (Grant # TPE-8850449) - Ninetendo Co.; Ltd. - MacArthur Foundation (Grant # 874304) - the LEGO Group . Woodrow Wilson Foundation's Spencer Dissertation-Year Fellowship. The ideas expressed here do not necessarily reflect the positions of the supporting agencies. Page 5 In memory of Georgiana Frederica Jackson (1891- 1992) And Dedicated to the children, parents and teachers of the Brooklyn New School, New York City who showed me how hard it is to teach well. Page 6 Preface Science education in the United States is rarely described as taking place within a social context. Most science literacy programs focus on the content of -science curriculum or the cognitive abilities of science literacy acquisition within an atemporal and ahistorical processes (though there are exceptions - see Lemke, 1990). Yet, many troubling questions arise as to what causes the lack of diversity in those who acquire science literacy. These questions motivated my study: why do science literacy programs face continued difficulty reaching more than a handful of students? Why does this breakdown seem to fall along certain class, racial and ethnic dimensions? Is there anything in the way we conceptualize teacher cognition that contributes to these problems. And if there is something amiss with our ways of thinking about teacher cognition, what is it and what are the alternatives? This study proposes that the answers to these questions could be developed within a greater understanding of the social context of learning and teaching science. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a new lens for looking at teacher thinking in science literacy. It is a descriptive case study of one teacher's attempt to implement a new science curriculum including computer technology and a curriculum design heavily influenced by cognitive psychology. This thesis is addressed to researchers in cognitive studies and cultural studies as well as teachers. Researchers and scholars often avoid integrating their theories of mind with those whose daily activities are charged with facilitating the growth of minds. While many cognitive scientists would agree that teachers are valuable for sharing 'real experiences' in the classroom with them, it is rare to see a cognitive scientist look towards teachers as a potential source for new knowledge about the workings of the mind. On the other hand, sociocultural studies tends to view all communication and social practices as ideologically determined. People use ideologies and cultural models as a basis for individual thought and action, yet few sociocultural studies consider everyday cognition worthy of study. As in cognitive studies, sociocultural studies avoids the everyday, substituting a science of large 'isms' in place of a more detailed discussion of social difference and what people bring to the social order. Too often cultural studies focuses attention on universal, generalizable concepts that transcend immediate social context. Page 7 I am not slighting studies that focus on the very real ways that dominant social structures (such as racism and patriarchy) play a role in social relations. But we also need studies that describe and interpret the real ways that people actively and positively seek to interpret and change the social order. This sort of 'popular theorizing" needs to be incorporated into both cognitive studies and cultural studies in our attempts to look at the interaction of larger structures with the local contexts that reproduce them in our daily lives. To this end, I have relied in this thesis on a theory of multiply situated subjectivity that is contrary to the theory of the singular, unified subject presented by both cognitive and sociocultural studies. This bottom-up, context-dependent approach will enlarge the range of possible meanings ascribed to differences in classroom cognition. Understanding diversity is a subject of importance in our rapidly changing society. An explorer of difference must be willing to accept that many categories near and dear to us will be open to questioning. Differences in