Although there is significant evidence that sense-making through discourse is an essential part of learning, student talk typically makes up a small percentage of classroom time. Further, scholars are calling for the need to re-imagine classrooms for science discourse, away from ‘school science’ to hybrid spaces where students’ experiential ways of knowing, home languages, and cultural practices are viewed as resources for advancing their understanding of science phenomena (Emdin, 2011; Gutiérrez et al., 1999; Rosebery et al., 2016).
This project is working towards this vision for equitable science discourse. Middle school science teachers serving in urban classrooms attend summer professional development and work in same grade lesson study teams throughout the academic year to plan a lesson around a science talk goal, observe one another’s classrooms, and reflect on how their students’ funds of knowledge serve as assets in science discourse activities (Calabrese Barton & Tan, 2009; Lewis et al., 2006; Moje et al. 2004). This project is based on the premise that when we center students and the contexts that are relevant to them, student engagement in science talk, and ultimately deeper understanding of science ideas and practices will be achieved.