Page 269 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

18 A Case Study of David, a Native Hawaiian Science Teacher 243

take some this mana’o (wisdom) with me as I work with teachers to assist them in their
efforts to bridge what is expected in our standards to what is relevant to cultural con-
nections to our island state.

Discussion

David’s story reveals a complex and unique socially situated self that continually
develops and evolves as he resolves contradictions within and among indigenous,
science, and school activity systems. David’s story of a lifetime of learning illustrates
how participating in and making connections among multilevel activity systems
develops multiple literacies, socially situated self-efficacy, and an increasingly agentic
self. His culturally diverse family, schooling, community experiences, and grounding
in indigenous culture provided him with knowledge and tools for effective instruction
of academically at risk, culturally diverse students.
David acknowledges his mentors and a school community that embraced change,
took risks, and engaged in professional development as cultural change oriented to
improving student achievement. David described his school’s reformed science pro-
grams as learner-centered, hands-on, reading–writing intensive, and inclusive of special
education students and second language learners of English. He expected his students
to use language associated with the Discourse of science and to be able to connect their
learning to their lives. His lesson on hydrocarbon fuels demonstrated “connecting learn-
ings” in its explicit connections “among knowledge, skills, and ideas across lessons …
and across in-school and out of school applications” (Langer 2001, p. 857).
David’s career path suggests the importance of diverse school, community, and
professional experiences for development of culture and place-based pedagogical con-
tent knowledge. Becoming knowledgeable about the cultural ways of groups different
from one’s own is referred to as “border-crossing” by Wellman (1999) who employs the
concept to understand ethnic identity formation and Aikenhead (1998) who refers to
indigenous students crossing cultural borders between home and western school sci-
ence. By externalizing knowledge through teacher and student talk and actions, David
modeled and expected his students to enact academic and social literacies.
David’s commitment to developing place and culture-based science curricula is
the professional extension of his personal desire to know more about Hawaii and to
live and teach his Hawaiian cultural heritage. His focus on relationship building and
co-learning by teachers and students is a reflection of his own experiences and
cultural values. Coursework during his sabbatical focused on the natural history of
Hawaii in order to develop place-based curricula involving students in increasingly
sophisticated culture-science, inquiry-oriented activities.
David’s study showed that his school’s reformed middle-school science program
was especially beneficial to students most at risk of academic failure. Educative
student–teacher interactions in multiple contexts were the basis for students’ views
of teachers as a primary factor in motivation to learn. Collegiality, restructuring
curriculum to be connected to students’ lives and communities, and holding high