Date of Award
5-17-2019
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Department
Early Childhood Education
First Advisor
Dr. Janice Fournillier
Second Advisor
Dr. Joyce King
Third Advisor
Dr. Yali Zhao
Abstract
The educational difficulties faced by African-American students in American public schools have led to a quest for authentic solutions. These solutions have included a call for pedagogical practices that recognize and infuse students' culture into the learning environment. It is the case, however, that the acknowledgment of student culture is not evident in all classrooms, or in all disciplines. Many educators seem to misunderstand how to utilize student cultural identity to benefit student learning efficiently. The remedy might lie in providing more references for how student-centeredness for the African-American student can be implemented. This qualitative case study used an Afrocentric framework to link the discourse on culturally relevant teaching in mainstream schools with that of African-centered schools. Iexamined the practices of an elementary education science teacher in an African-centered school, and how she translated the African-centered curriculum into effective instructional methods, in a discipline as seemingly culture-neutral as science. The findings of this study are organized around the Afrocentric tenets of centrism, critical analysis and consciousness, and offer practical expressions of these tenets in the elementary science classroom. The findings suggest the importance of teacher mindset regarding centered pedagogical practices, and a need for teachers to prioritize their own knowledge and consciousness regarding the history and current scientific concerns relevant to people of African-descent. There is clearly a need for an acknowledgement of the foundational quality of socio-political science education at the elementary level. Doing so may help to reconcile some of the difficulties educators experience in addressing the socio-political aspects of elementary science. This study can contribute to the strengthening, empowering, and promoting of agency within educators of African-American students in all educational contexts.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/14440077
Recommended Citation
Appiagyei, Akua, "The Manfestation of the African-Centered Educational Philosophy in the Pedagogical Practices of an Elementary Education Science Teacher." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2019.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/14440077