Secondary school teachers’ beliefs about the role of culture in chemistry class and their ways of considering and engaging in it

Abstract

Due to the scarcity of studies on culturally responsive teaching in secondary school chemistry education, the goal of this study was to establish chemistry teachers’ beliefs about the role of culture in chemistry class and their ways of considering and engaging in it. Seven secondary school chemistry teachers were interviewed. The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis against the backdrop of structuralist and poststructuralist conceptions of culture. The teachers regarded culture in general as an enrichment in school and many of them showed a very nuanced concept of culture, comprising both structuralist and poststructuralist elements. However, they accorded only minor importance to the impact of culture on chemistry teaching and learning and tended to employ only a structuralist view of culture in their chemistry classroom. This creates tensions in their teaching and could be a source of discriminatory practices in chemistry class. It is argued that chemistry-specific approaches to culturally relevant science teaching need to be developed and implemented in secondary school teacher education to support teachers’ equitable chemistry teaching in secondary school. Implications for chemistry education research and teaching are discussed.