Sociotransformative Constructivism: What is it and how can I use it in my classroom? Alberto J. Rodriguez Science Education San Diego State University e-mail: arodrigu@mail.sdsu.edu August 2000 Introduction The following document is a synthesis of a longer paper on sociotransformative constructivism that was published in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching entitled, Strategies for counterresistance: Toward sociotransformative constructivism and learning to teach science for diversity and for understanding. JRST, 36, pp. 589-622, 1998. This version is meant to serve as an introduction for practitioners interested in exploring the uses of this orientation to teaching and learning in their classroom.   Background Science teachers have been witnesses to some significant changes in recent years. School districts are restructuring not only what science content should be taught, but also how teachers should be prepared to teach it. Curriculum alignment with national and state standards, inquiry-based learning, and block scheduling are just some of the initiatives that have recently influenced science teaching. It is also true, however, that these changes and initiatives have little or no impact on a teacher s personal philosophies of teaching and learning. These sweeping changes come at a time when a wide gap in achievement continues to exist between those pupils traditionally underserved in the sciences and those from middle- and upper class backgrounds. This achievement gap in science is compounded by the high dropout rates of pupils from low socioeconomic status and/or diverse ethnic backgrounds. For example, even though the drop out of rates of students from Anglo and African ethnic backgrounds have improved, the drop out (or pushed out) rate of Latinos/as has essentially remained the same at 35% for the last 25 years. These school inequalities, and the lack of effective strategies to address them, continue to frustrate and discourage teachers across the country. We know that the economic and political strength of our communities and of the United States will suffer if we cannot provide an educated workforce suited for the high technology jobs of the future. At the center of better education and positive social change is the effective preparation of teachers to teach for understanding in innovative and socially relevant ways. This is where the idea of Sociotransformative Constructivism can play a role in bringing about positive change. Sociotransformative constructivism (STC) is the synthesis of multicultural education (a theory of social justice) and social constructivism (a theory of learning). It takes into account how social, historical, and institutional contexts influence learning and access to learning in our schools. This concrete approach can meet the challenges of learning to teach for diversity and understanding. Learning to teach for diversity means learning to use more culturally inclusive and socially relevant teaching techniques. Learning to teach for understanding involves learning to implement more critically engaging and intellectually meaningful strategies. If we are going to have equity and excellence in our science classrooms, we must do both. At this point the reader may be thinking, Yeah, this is just another one of those fads that will blow through my school and then blow right back out again. Been there, done that.” Well, STC is not being proposed as a magic bullet” or the great new be-all and end-all program that will save our schools.” It is simply an orientation to teaching and learning science meant to add to your repertoire of ideas and strategies. It is also a way to make working for social justice a part of your everyday classroom practice. The following sections will provide you with background of information on the building blocks of STC, multicultural education and social constructivism. We hope to illustrate how you can put STC into practice in your classroom, but the best way to figure out how this orientation can be of use in your classroom is simply to give it a try. We are open to your questions and suggestions, and we are eager to assist you in anyway we can. Finally, one of the most often overlooked aspects of trying new approaches to teaching and learning is the discussion of some of the barriers teachers encounter when trying to implement change. We are also eager to engage in a dialogue with you about what you perceive to be potential barriers, and how we can work together to overcome them.   Teaching for Diversity: Multicultural Education The basic premise of multicultural education is that all learners at any grade level must be provided with equitable opportunities for success. All too often, however, it is implemented as a few minor curriculum changes or in a few professional development workshops. It is not enough just to encourage all learners to celebrate and study the contributions of men and women from various ethnic backgrounds to the advancement of scientific knowledge. Multiculturalism requires that it be made a driving principle in the development and implementation of policies, curriculum, and assessment. The end result then being not just equitable opportunities for access, but also opportunities for equitable outcomes. Multiculturalism seeks to provide learners with opportunities for empowerment. This is particularly important in science education because a very small percentage of our scientists come from traditionally underserved backgrounds. It is important to distinguish between empowerment and equity. While empowerment is the voice that individuals have to enact their rights and responsibilities, equity is the social and institutional process by which individuals can attain empowerment. Therefore, equity can be mandated by law, but empowerment can only be facilitated. It is up to the individuals and/or groups of individuals ultimately to enact their own voices.   Teaching for Understanding: Constructivism Constructivism has long been a blanket term to cover a wide body of research and ideas in science education. It is important to clarify what is meant by constructivism before it can be applied to and contrasted with STC. Cognitive constructivism, or individual constructivism, is a theory of learning originating from the work of the famous French developmental psychologist Jean Piaget. Essentially, he proposed that children s learning is a process of personal, individual, intellectual construction arising from their activity in the world.” This original research struck at the heart of the typically teacher-centered Western classroom, and demonstrated that students bring with them deeply entrenched prior conceptions that play critical roles in how they acquire and use new scientific knowledge (for a comprehensive list of constructivist pedagogical activities, see Mitchell & Mitchell, 1992). Another orientation, sociocultural constructivism attempts to be more holistic. Individual constructivism tends to view learning as the mental process and the way in which a person constructs knowledge from within. Sociocultural constructivism perceives knowledge as being socially constructed and mediated by historical, institutional, and cultural contexts, and that knowledge is centered on how language is used in that culture. Even though social constructivism is a framework more in tune with those concerned about equity issues, one of the drawbacks of social constructivism is the lack of specific suggestions for practice. In short, once a teacher is committed to making their classroom more inclusive and socially relevant, how does he or she go about it? Possible answers to this question are suggested by the STC orientation.   Sociotransformative Constructivism Considering all the research done on individual constructivism and its apparent success in the classroom, why is there the need for another approach? What necessitates STC? When looking at the typical classroom it is clear that individual constructivism is not being put into practice in the school classroom. For example, according to the National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education, a typical elementary or secondary science class spent: Almost 40 percent of its time in lecture and discussion involving the entire class. About 20 percent of its time working as individuals reading the textbook or completing worksheets. About 25 percent of its time working with hands-on materials. And the remaining of the time on daily routines and non-laboratory small-groups. (NSF, 1996 60). The realities and constraints of our current education system, and the lack of instruction in concrete ways for putting individual constructivism to use in diverse classrooms, have made it just another buzz word in education. In addition, while an excellent starting point, individual constructivism does not pay attention to the current inequities influencing the what, when, and how students learn in our schools. Individual constructivism primarily serves the interests of members of the culture of power by not taking into consideration the complex social and institutional issues affecting students in the classroom. For instance, issues such as tracking, racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination affect the student to student and student to teacher relationships in the classroom. One can be the best prepared teacher in the world, know one s subject matter well, and have the best of good intentions, but if a teacher is not prepared to be culturally sensitive and inclusive in the classroom, how can he or she facilitate an effective learning environment for all students? This is an aspect that distinguishes STC from other frameworks. While STC includes many pedagogical strategies from individual constructivism, it expands on them by deconstructing existing power structures that may interfere with meaningful learning in the classroom. In this way, all students are encouraged to formulate their own knowledge and contrast it with the accepted knowledge and norms. At the same time, students are urged to reflect on whose knowledge has become the accepted norm, whose interests are represented by this knowledge, and who are the people who have access (or power) to continue creating the accepted knowledge? STC assists teachers and students interested in learning in new ways by using four concrete elements: the dialogic conversation, authentic activity, metacognition, and reflexivity. These are defined below and examples are given for each element. More can be learned about the STC components from the article published in the JRST, and or by reading the example of a complete lesson provided in the appendix. Also, it is important to keep in mind that these elements are not proposed in any particular order. They are enacted as needed and often take place simultaneously in an inclusive classroom. The dialogic conversation According to the Russian philosopher, Bakhtin, To understand another person s utterance means to orient oneself with respect to it; to find the proper place for it in the corresponding context. Any true understanding is dialogic in nature.” In any exchange of words or ideas, the goal is to understand not just what is being said but the reasons why the speaker chooses to say what he or she says in that particular context. Cultural meaning emerges from understanding how people use their ordinary language.” An example Okhee Lee, researcher at Miami University, discovered through her research with diverse learners that students personal beliefs about natural phenomena strongly influence their understanding in science. For instance, many children believe that violent weather such tornadoes or hurricanes are caused by supernatural forces and are brought upon the earth as a form of punishment. Now, through the dialogic conversation, a teacher would set a safe and open learning environment where students would be free to express their views. The teacher can then use this important information about the students beliefs to present the scientific view as just another explanation. In this way, the students beliefs are not dismissed but understood. At the same time, students are encouraged to explore the scientifically accepted view and contrast it to their own and other students beliefs. The end goal is then to have students learn more about science content and about each other in a respectful and constructive fashion. Authentic activity Involves hands-on, minds-on activities that are also socioculturally relevant and tied to the everyday life of the learner. All learners (including pupils and pre-and inservice teachers) should engage in activities that closely resemble those commonly carried out by practitioners in the community of practice of the subject under study. An example When my son was attending grade 6 in a school in Madison, Wisconsin, the teacher had the class work in groups to set an experiment” with crayfish. For two weeks, the students set up to explore questions such as whether a crayfish would walk across a desk and fall off, or how long it would swim around in small container of water. This is an excellent example of activity mania in the science classroom. That is, the tendency of giving students a lot of busy, hands-on activities having little to do with science and with being minds-on. In other words, it is not very useful to put a crayfish on a table and wait to see whether it walks off it (not to mention that the crayfish never moved in my son s group--why should it?). Second, the teacher never encouraged the students to think about what the scientific method was, or about how to formulate a useful hypothesis, nor she discussed the importance of doing socially relevant research. It would have been more multiculturally inclusive and socially relevant to first discuss how crayfish plays an important socioeconomic role in various parts of the world or the US (e.g. Louisiana). It would have been more useful to discuss how pollution may affect the delicate conditions that sustain the life cycle of the crayfish, and then have the students design meaningful experiments to better understand the crayfish biology and the factors that influence its existence. Metacognition has been defined as the knowledge, awareness, and control of one s own learning.” Students should be encouraged to ask questions about what they are learning such as, What am I meant to be doing?” Do I know what to write/look for?” What is the purpose of this task?” Have I done everything necessary?” and Can I explain this to someone else?” More importantly, perhaps, is that students should be aware of the purpose and the reasoning behind activities, asking such questions as Why am I learning this?” Why am I doing it this way?” What control do I have in how to proceed?” By what other method can I learn this best?” An example A teacher has students working in groups of three on a problem-solving scenario. After each group had come up with a possible solution to the assigned problem, the teacher has the groups pair up with one another to discuss not only the solution, but the thinking process they used. In other words, students groups would be expected to explain (think aloud) how they arrived at their solution and contrast it with the process used by the members of other groups. In this way, students are encouraged to expose their taken-for-granted ways of thinking and become more aware of how their peers think. Reflexivity has to do with becoming aware of how one s own ethnic and cultural background, socioeconomic status, belief systems, values, education, and skills influence what we consider as important to learn. STC employs reflexivity to examine how scientific knowledge is produced, who are recognized as scientists, how their work influences society at large, and how social issues determine which scientific work is worth funding. In fact, through reflexivity, one becomes more aware of how issues of power determine who has access to education and to better opportunities in life, and the role each one of us plays through our actions (or inactions) to maintain the status quo. An example An Anglo female science teacher starts a new job in culturally diverse school where most of the students are on the free or reduced lunch program. Even though she has many years of experience, she had never taught in such a context. She had mainly taught students from middle class backgrounds whose culture resembles hers. Through reflexivity, she recognizes that she has much to learn about her students in order to become an effective teacher. Therefore, she makes the following plan: To call two parents each week to introduce herself, to invite them to visit the classroom, and to find out more about them and about their son or daughter. To contact a community leader and make a point to visit with him or her. After finding out more about the issues of concern in the community, she invites the community leader to visit her classroom. To talk to students one-on-one during group work to get a sense of their feelings toward the school and the curriculum. In this way, she can think of ways to help students feel more included in the classroom. To constantly ask herself the questions: Whose interests are being served by what I taught today? How can I be more inclusive of my students cultural backgrounds in what I teach? What else could I have done to help my students find their voice and become more socially aware, active, responsible citizens?   Barriers to STC So many times teachers are provided with materials or professional development opportunities that they believe in and get really excited about. They work very hard to utilize these new strategies in their classrooms, only to find that they encounter many roadblocks. Not knowing how to deal with these barriers, teachers can lose their enthusiasm and discard these new strategies all together. Repeated episodes of this cycle can lead to teachers becoming embittered and burned out. Any time you embark on something new you will encounter resistance to change.It may come from your peers, your administrators, your students, or even yourself. Even if you truly believe in the principles of STC, you will more than likely encounter some roadblocks of your own.Some possible obstacles may be: Individual beliefs and assumptions as a teacher Time Resources Site/district policies and commitment Student beliefs and assumptions Lack of support Parents beliefs and assumptions We must keep in mind that change will be gradual and sometimes we just have to celebrate effecting change one lesson at a time. One effective way to manage resistance to change is to invite fellow teachers, parents, and/or administrators every so often into your classroom. Once these individuals start seeing how your students respond to student-centered, inquiry-based, and multicultural teaching, they start believing that students can, and do, learn in this type of classroom environment.   Conclusion In short, a sociotransformative constructivist orientation suggests that to become effective multicultural science teachers, we need to explore how our own belief and value systems intercept with our theories of learning. In other words, an effective STC teacher does not take anything for granted and reflects on how his or her position of privilege influenced the what and how he or she chooses to teach to whom. Furthermore, the STC teacher believes that education is the key for achieving social justice and is dedicated to assisting her/his students enact their own voices in the pursuit of their dreams and goals.   Appendix Putting STC into Practice: An Example I will describe one example of what I do in the science methods class to help students explore the value of STC as an alternate orientation of teaching and learning. The specific names of the alternate pedagogical strategies used are shown in parenthesis. (NOTE: In this section, pre-service teachers are referred to as students.”) After each group had listed on the board the pros and cons of using performance/authentic assessment, in the following class the same groups were engaged in a hands-on problem solving activity. The title of the activity is purposely odd, "Polymers, diapers, and performance/authentic assessment." I begin by performing a disappearing "magic trick" by pouring about 70 ml. of water in one of three blue plastic 300 ml. cups. I then challenge the students to predict which cup holds the water as I quickly switch the position of the cups (This is an attention-getter, a brief demonstration or activity performed to focus the attention of the class on the science concepts). After a few guesses, most students are able to correctly predict which cup contains the water. Next I pick one of the other cups and warn pre-service teachers that if they make the wrong choice, some of their peers will get wet. This one cup does not contain water, but it has confetti, as a group of unsuspecting pre-service teachers at the front of the class finds out. With two cups left, I turned upside down the cup pre-service teachers believe to be empty, which it is. Finally, I turned the remaining cup upside down and nothing happens. The water had disappeared. I take this moment to remind pre-service teachers to avoid doing science "magic tricks" in the classroom. That is, the kind of trick that involves an engaging and fun activity without providing pupils with opportunities to understand the scientific concept behind it and its relevance (Making science meaningful and socially relevant). Next, I tell pre-service teachers that I can explain why the water disappeared by doing another demonstration. This time I use a diaper and I ask pre-service teachers to predict how much tap water I can pour into the diaper before it gets completely full. Pre-service teachers are also required to write down their predictions with a rationale, and observations. Then they explain in writing whether their predictions were correct (Predict, Observe, & Explain, POE). Using their suggestions, I first pour 50 ml. of water, then 100 ml. and so on, until I have poured more than 500 ml. of water into the diaper. At this point the students are very curious to find out how the water can disappear in the cup, and how a diaper can hold so much water (Create a need to know; that is, conduct an activity that motivates students to learn by piquing their curiosity, or by drawing attention to what they do or do not know about the concept under study). At this point, I switch back to the cup holding the vanished water, and I pull out a gel-like substance. I explain that prior to coming to class, I put a few grams of sodium polyacrylate polymer (a white powder) into the cup. This superabsorbent polymer is similar to that contained in diapers, and it can absorb as much as 300 times its weight in tap water (Woodward, No date). For the next eight minutes, students hear a brief history of how synthetic polymers were pioneered by US and French scientists in the early 1800s (mini lecture--an interactive form of teacher presentation lasting no more than 15 minutes). This presentation is punctuated by interesting facts such as how one of the first synthetic polymers, cellulose nitrate, was used to make movie film and false teeth in 1868 (Lipscomb, 1995). Students are usually shocked to hear that because cellulose nitrate was a highly flammable polymer, buckets of sand had to be kept around film projectors when it was used. Similarly, some smokers who had false teeth made out cellulose nitrate met with unfortunate accidents. Note that instead of giving students a scientific definition of polymer, and providing students with complex formulae right away, the students are first given opportunities to define what a polymer is by connecting the scientific concept(s) with practical and everyday things. Therefore, the formal scientific definition and chemical structures of polymers are discussed later when students have built an interest in the subject and can relate the concept to everyday life. To continue facilitating this process, the next five minutes are spent doing a large group brainstorming session. During this time, two students are sent to the board as recorders. One records examples from the class of natural polymers and the other records the names of synthetic polymers. It is always interesting to see how well students can list even complex names of synthetic polymers, but how little they know about natural occurring polymers. Many of them exclaimed that they knew that PVC stands for polyvinyl chloride (a waterproof polymer), or that PVA stands for polyvinyl alcohol (a water soluble polymer), but many of them have never heard that cotton, silk, DNA, animal hair and nails are all naturally occurring polymers. This revelation makes them reflect on the nature of their science education and how they have learned to memorize concepts, but not really understand them in relation to everyday life (metacognition). Finally, we conduct a hands-on, minds-on activity through which they are required to design a more environmentally-friendly diaper (Problem posing and problem solving). Students are required to work in interdisciplinary groups of three and asked to be attentive to the gender-dynamics of their group. To model the use of authentic/performance assessment, students are provided with a rubric sheet describing how they will be evaluated on design, use of materials, observations, conclusion, and group collaboration. Each item is rated, for example, from zero (not clear problem statement) to three points (very clear problem statement). They are provided with "boy" and "girl" diapers and a variety of equipment and supplies. They are also encouraged to deconstruct the sex stereotypes reproduced even in diapers by noticing the color and designs on the diapers (e.g. blue cowboy teddy bears for boys as opposed to pink ballerina squirrels for girls--Reflexivity). To demonstrate how to keep pupils focused on the science concept(s) during open-ended activities of this nature, the preservice teachers are urged to note how the activity--writing the problem statement--was designed. In other words, students are required to use the words "polymer" and "diaper" in the problem statement. They also get bonus points if they include words such as pollution, economical, recyclable, safer, effective, and environment. In this way, students are encouraged to write problem statements which stay within the boundaries of the main science concepts to be covered--that is, what polymers are and how they affect everyday life. The next class is spent engaged in a metacognitive discussion of each aspect of the activity. Preservice teachers find it very useful to discuss questions such as how the activity was multicultural, how it was gender and ethnic inclusive, how it was an example of performance/authentic assessment, in short, how the activity was an example of sociotransformative constructivist teaching. Because the lab activity included the application of several of the pedagogical strategies discussed in the class, and because it provided an opportunity to experience first hand how performance/authentic assessment can be implemented, several students commented that this activity became a turning point for helping them rethink their conceptions of teaching and learning. Even though helping preservice teachers learn to teach for diversity and understanding is a risky professional decision for the (usually) sole member of an ethnically underrepresented group in class, and who is tenure-track, the risk is not only worth taking, it is rewarding. This is especially the case when the very act of taking risks in the classroom can be used as a teachable moment to help students reflect on the kinds of choices they must make in order to teach for social justice. Through reflexivity and the dialogic conversation, students participate in frank discussions about how to be effective teachers and to take risks, but at the same time how to be strategic and build alliances with colleagues and parents.   Related Articles Rodriguez, A.J. with Berryman, C. (in press). When ideological and pedagogical commitments to effect change are not enough: A preservice teacher's struggles to teach for understanding in diverse classrooms. American Educational Research Journal. Rodriguez, A. J. (2000) Sociotransformative constructivism, courage, and the researcher s gaze: Redefining our roles as cultural warriors for social change. In Teaching science in diverse settings: Marginalized discourses and classroom practice. Barton-Calabrase, A. & Osborne, M. (Eds). New York: Peter Lang Rodriguez, A.J. 2000. Linking Bakhtin with feminist poststructuralism to unravel the allure of auto/biographies. Research in Science Education, 30, 13-22. Rodriguez, A. J. 1998a. Busting open the meritocracy myth: Rethinking equity and student achievement in science. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 4 (2&3): 195-216. Rodriguez, A. J. 1998b. Strategies for counterresistance: Toward sociotransformative constructivism and learning to teach science for diversity and for understanding. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 36 (6): 589-622. Rodriguez, A. J. (1997). The dangerous discourse of invisibility: A critique of the National Research Council's National Science Education Standards. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 34(1), 19-37.