This study examines an expansive shift in the priorities of professional learning within a collective of high school science teachers, scientists, community organizers, youth, and educational researchers who were working together on classroom science projects grounded in community concerns of environmental racism. Through a participatory design-based approach, we challenge the assumed relationship between educational research and priorities for teacher professional learning. The study elucidates the processes of teacher solidarity co-design by which our group decided to refocus a professional development institute for science teachers on learning three realms of historical context: history of neighborhoods, grassroots campaigns for environmental justice, and relationships between science and industry. Our analysis indicates that four elements of our co-design worked together to facilitate an expansive shift in the object of professional learning to prioritize science teachers’ learning of history. Specifically, we identified the following elements as supporting teacher priorities to determine the direction of our collective learning: (1) the composition of our “more-than-teacher collective,” (2) the dialogic structure of our institutes, (3) the temporal structure of institutes that emphasized praxis, and (4) our decision to focus on a specific real-world problem rather than disciplinary concepts or teaching practices. These findings may inform new relationships between educational research and the professional learning of teachers wherein the priorities of the latter are collectively determined.
Morales-Doyle, D., Frausto Aceves, A., Chappell, M. J., & Childress Price, T. (2025). History, hope, and humility in praxis: Co-determining priorities for professional learning with content area teachers. Cognition and Instruction, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2025.2555820