Informed scientific thinking is a vital component of engaging all socioscientific issues (SSI) such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, socioscientific engagement may be influenced by sociocultural factors and mis/disinformation efforts to the widespread detriment of human and environmental well-being. The purpose of this…

Higher education biology is often imagined, perceived, and described as having reached gender equality in terms of who gets to participate in disciplinary practices. However, like any other natural science discipline, higher education biology is a world whose landscapes are shaped by (re)productions of historical, cultural, and social norms. We…

Students often perceive school science as purely theoretical, overloaded with facts, and mostly disconnected from their school, home, and community life. One way to bridge the disconnection between school science and lived experiences, and support students in realizing the relevance of science to their everyday life, is by enabling them to…

The aim of this study is to define epigenetic literacy and describe how it can be included in school biology. Epigenetics is a new field of research in biology with abundant societal consequences and conceptual implications on how genetics is understood. Epigenetics explains how genes are regulated, thereby clarifying cell differentiation, and…

There is a significant amount of research literature on the importance of identifying and building on students' experiences and ideas for making sense of the natural world, especially when engaging in science practices. Simultaneously, approaches to creating justice-oriented science education promote the need to focus on the diverse sense-making…

This study examined factors that have been shown to predict middle school students' (grades 6-8) task values (utility value related to engaging with science in the future). Using structural equation modeling students' (N = 1015) responses to a career aspiration survey were analyzed to determine relationships among the factors. The model of best…

Black and Brown girls are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Although studies have examined the reasons for this by exploring Black and Brown girls' experiences based on culture, gender, and race, there is a need for specifically understanding how language contributes to racialized experiences in science…

This article explores the meaning of community-driven and owned science in the context of an Inuit-led land-based program, the Young Hunters Program. It is the foundational program of the Arviat Aqqiumavvik Society, situated in Nunavut, Canada, a community-led group dedicated to researching challenges to community wellness and designing and…

Drawing on racial battle fatigue as theoretical framing and critical race methodology, we offer the counterstories of 16 Black men doctoral scientists and engineers who relied on same race peer support to successfully persist in their science and engineering (S&E) doctoral programs. Our analysis of narratives and interviews yielded three…

Attracting and retaining students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics majors, particularly those who are underrepresented, is a national concern. While undergraduate research experiences have been shown to increase retention and engagement, inequities in access exacerbate disparities. Understanding what hinders or facilitates the…

Framed within intersectionality, this multiple case study explores women's participation in physics through the construct of physics identity and with a focus on recognition. The study is drawn upon an empirical life-history exploration of three women: a native to Northwestern Europe, late-career white woman and two immigrant women to Northwestern…

This article reports on quantitative findings from a design-based implementation research (DBIR) project "Carbon TIME" that focused on teaching carbon cycling at multiple scales, from atomic-molecular to global. We report results from a large dataset from diverse schools, including 59,654 student assessments of three-dimensional learning…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) identity has become a popular lens in science education research. However, few studies have looked at how using the interpersonal, structural, cultural, and disciplinary domains of power sheds light on how women of color differently navigate the various cultures of formal and informal…