Taking a sociocultural approach, the goal of this qualitative study was to examine the process of implementing a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) initiative. The study examined how the construct of STEM was individually appropriated and collectively constructed within a rural school district during its launch year. Within this theoretical framework, the authors argue that such a change must be viewed as a contextual, active, co-constructed, and evolving process. Data from practitioner journals, participant interviews, and researcher field notes were characterized by how practitioners referred to and discussed the idea of “STEM.” The perspectives of teachers, administrators, and a STEM coach were examined to determine how practitioners appropriated the notion of “STEM,” how this varied by practitioner group, and how individual appropriations of “STEM” merged and evolved as a co-constructed understanding of “STEM.” Practitioners appropriated this STEM initiative in distinct ways, specific to their context, while at the same time working toward a district-wide understanding of “STEM.” During the course of this year, the district’s ownership of this initiative was reflected in the emergence of a new label for “STEM,” which they renamed “TEAMS.” This new label reified the context-specific conceptualization of a STEM initiative. The results highlight the importance of acknowledging the active role that practitioners play as co-designers of innovations and the value that should be placed on this active role to support long-term sustainability. The study provides a deeper understanding of the process of implementing STEM that might have implications for implementing similar STEM initiatives elsewhere.

This paper dialogues with Lucy Avraamidou’s theoretical contribution Science Identity as a Landscape of Becoming: Rethinking Recognition and Emotionality through an Intersectionality Lens. Avraamidou discusses the centrality of recognition for science identities, and presents an argument for taking up intersectionality as an analytical lens for recognition. In this response, I review the contributions that Avraamidou’s article makes in advancing science identities research, and I then discuss ways of operationalizing intersectionality theory analytically. To illustrate ways that intersectionality can be mobilized to understand how recognition functions in science learning settings, I present examples from science identity researchers who have drawn on various theoretical frameworks to make this possible. I conclude with a discussion of the importance of considering space and time in recognition research, and how this can lead to more meaningful and intersectional research.

This article presents a case study of “the aspirin unit,” a curriculum unit from an advanced chemistry class in a neighborhood high school in a large US city. The extended case method is applied to analyze this curriculum within the larger US political context that criminalizes youth of color. Data sources include retrospective interviews with students, student work, and the teacher-researcher’s archival records. There is evidence that this unit was meaningful to students, effectively framed opportunities for them to learn canonical science, and prompted them to consider the sociopolitical implications of their science education. There is also evidence that there was ample room for improvement in the aspirin unit. This article brings justice-centered science pedagogy into conversation with sociotransformative constructivism to identify some of these possibilities. This study implies that addressing inequity in science education requires confronting the latent politics in the curriculum and broader context.

This paper is written in response to Alberto J. Rodriguez and Deb Morrison’s article entitled, “Expanding and Enacting Transformative Meanings of Equity, Diversity and Social Justice in Science Education.” The authors provide a historical account of science education social justice research efforts within the USA and support the need to more critically incorporate social justice research agendas in science education. They summarize four main rationales used in science education research for engaging in equity, diversity and social justice: the economic, moral, demographic shift, and sociotransformative arguments. The authors remind researchers to consider systems of power and privilege when advocating for marginalized people, arguing that social justice should be embodied by the researcher and constantly be enacted within their work. The authors question why few have taken up social justice science education research. This paper expands on these authors’ arguments by offering a critical race analysis of the social justice construct in science education research. I conclude with suggesting the need to deconstruct whiteness within social justice science education research agendas.

In this article, I detail my involvement in sociopolitical conversations as a science education researcher. I present two of the controversies in which I have been involved in recent years: Metal dust from the Port of Quebec (Quebec, Canada) and the Maille case (the case of a researcher who has to hand over to a private company her research data including the confidential information of the participants who confided to her in interviews). I conclude the article by emphasizing the importance and difficulty of the sociopolitical commitment of researchers.

This manuscript focuses on the experiences of a science teacher educator’s initial engagement in reconceptualization of the construct of equity in classrooms through the use of praxis. What might equity look like if conceptualized as a dynamic interaction between teacher and individual students? Utilizing a critically situated perspective, this work explores the evolution of mutual and reciprocal understanding between a white male teacher educator and one student. It then questions the outcomes produced by this exploration. This work provides an example of how separating equity into two components—equity as interactive, and equity as complex and dynamic, may help pre-service teachers (PSTs) and practicing teacher educators negotiate meaning through discussion on a long-term basis. By utilizing a concrete conceptualization of equity, and examples for discussion, findings can inform PSTs, teacher educators, and practicing teachers of a starting point for de/reconstructing personal conceptualizations of equity in classrooms.

The retention of underrepresented students remains a significant challenge in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) disciplines. A broad range of studies across several disciplines have shown that conventional approaches to STEM instruction may have been unintentionally exclusive to students whose ethnicities are not traditionally represented in the STEM fields. This ‘exclusive’ classroom atmosphere has emerged as a major reason for the attrition of underrepresented minority students from STEM majors. In this manuscript, I describe a conceptual model called Deep Teaching, describing how pedagogical transformation incorporating practices that are more inclusive can occur. The model marks an evolution from other frameworks advancing inclusive instruction in higher education by advocating for the primacy of Freirean philosophy when thinking about self and student. Using specific examples, I discuss how a sequential approach to understanding ourselves and empathizing with students puts the instructor in a better position to create enduring, positive classroom climates. I also describe considerations necessary for various contexts, and suggestions for continued commitment to inclusive pedagogy in the long-term.

While some Indigenous individuals have achieved “success” in STEM careers, persistent questions from many Indigenous scholars and communities about epistemic dominance at universities remain. Going beyond student achievement, this essay regards the centering of local Indigenous place based knowledge as a paradigm shifting move for universities. Thinking into places is more than an equity move to include Indigenous minds in university spaces, it is an undertaking to actually advance and transform STEM fields and all university disciplines.

In this forum article, I reflect on the findings by Eva Silfver in Gender performance in an out of school science context. Silfver has studied a class of 14–15-year-old students during a visit to a science center. The students are supposed to write a computer program that will steer a Lego car. In their activities, Silfver identifies ruptures of discursive borders that are immediately followed by recoups. I interpret the results as an account of forces disturbing the systems that justify stereotypes. I draw on Karen Barad to examine some of the moments in Silfver’s study where a pedagogue is involved in reproducing gender stereotypes. Responsible intra-action is discussed in relation to gender performances and system-justification.

Cultural historical activity theory perspectives are drawn in this paper to realize collective transformative agency and the externalization of individual student identity, with students seeking personalized assistance from their teacher while learning mathematics at a grade eight classroom in Sweden. Even as teacher–researcher collaboration and the execution of a five-task formative intervention resulted in realization of transformative agency, the externalization of identity gained from students working with peers and being led in instructional activity that was practical and meaningful to their lives. While the externalization of identity by individual students during their learning resulted in transformative agency realized at the collective level in their teacher’s instructional practice, the role of knowledge within such a practice was found to be just as vital in line with the construct of Transformative Activist Stance.