Who Is Doing Science? Using Science Texts to Open Spaces that Expand the Voices and Perspectives in Elementary Classrooms

Abstract

Abstract Science texts tend to privilege the voices, perspectives, and practices of White males (e.g., Ford, 2006), reinforcing widely‐held perceptions of scientists as White men. This narrow portrayal of who “does science” discourages BIPOC or female students from building a science identity (Archer et al., 2015), with many such students also viewing science as difficult or undesirable (Brickhouse et al., 2000). We argue that intentional positioning of science text written by or about BIPOC or female figures in science and literacy instruction not only helps all students develop science and literacy skills and knowledge, but leads to more expansive views of who “does science” and fosters students’ science identities. Our purpose in this article is to help teachers identify and incorporate expansive informational texts and position these texts within sound science and literacy instruction. We draw from the Next Generation Science Standards to describe ways to develop students’ science identities and then provide teachers guidance for selecting and intentionally positioning expansive science texts in their instruction, with examples of text sets that teachers can use in their classrooms.