Jomo W. Mutegi

Old Dominion University | ODU · Department of Teaching & Learning

The body of research aimed at explaining the science teaching and learning of African Americans has identified myriad factors that correlate with African American's science career choices and science performance generally. It has not, however, offered any satisfactory explanations as to why those factors are disproportionately racially determined....

“Science for All” is a mantra that has guided science education reform and practice for the past 20 years or so. Unfortunately, after 20 years of “Science for All” guided policy, research, professional development, and curricula African Americans continue to participate in the scientific enterprise in numbers that are staggeringly low. What is more...

In recent years, there has been a pronounced growth in scholarship which advocates for the use of hip hop in school instruction. In spite of significant concern over the negative messaging associated with hip hop, advocates of hip hop based pedagogy have persisted. One of the contentions made by advocates of hip hop based pedagogy is that “negative...

Across a broad range of disciplines, research has found that inequity is systemic in the journal review process. Collectively, however, this study does not specifically examine racial inequity. Moreover, literature on the peer review process in science education, in particular, does not foreground equity as a subject of study. The present study aim...

This poster is a complement to the article referenced below. It reports data from a study of 64 preservice elementary teachers aimed at soliciting their conceptions of Western Modern Science as compared to science in other cultures. The purpose is to identify affordance and hindrances that can be used to help move preservice teachers towards more c...

In the past twenty-five years, the number of science education researchers of African descent has grown substantially. With that growth, there has also been an increase in research examining science teaching and learning as it pertains to populations of African descent. The articles presented in this special issue offer a peak into this growing are...

Although the Next Generation Science Standards and the National Science Education Standards prioritize the production of critical consumers of science as an overarching goal, there is relatively little science education research aimed at fostering critical perspectives among science teachers. The purpose of this theory-generative study is to identi...

As a fifth-year teacher in an urban middle school, I have become keenly aware of how important it is to provide my students, who are predominantly African American, with culturally responsive classroom experiences. In this application of socially transformative science curriculum, I began with a traditional lesson on atoms, molecules, and compounds...

In this article, the authors draw on their experience in an international, cross-cultural visit to ponder similarities and differences in educational systems in both the USA and Kenya. During the visit, one feature of Kenyan society that stood out and became a frequent topic of discussion was the existence of the Jua Kali. Presenting their ponderin...

This chapter examines the various ways that systemic racism works to shape the STEM research workforce of people of African descent. The interest driving this work is not a desire to have “representative” numbers of African STEM professionals. Instead, the driving interest is to provide a detailed description of the dynamic role that systemic racis...

This mixed methods study reports data from the implementation of a 2‐week nanotechnology camp for secondary level students. The camp, Nanotechnology Experiences for Students and Teachers, had the overarching goal of increasing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) interest among the next generation of potential STEM professionals...

One of the challenges facing some Noyce projects is that of recruiting students. This is certainly the case in our track 1 Noyce project. We have found through a previous focus group study, that many high-achieving, underrepresented minority students are not necessarily opposed to teaching careers. More often than not, they just have never consider...

This infographic is a complement to the book chapter referenced below. It provides a summary of three ways that science education should be re-conceptualized in order to be of optimal benefit for learners of African descent. The infographic was presented at the 2019 annual meeting of the National Association of Research in Science Teaching (NARST)....

This chapter is a description of practice grounded in the idea that the primary problems Black children face in schools are political problems. The chapter articulates three aspects of science education that should be reconceptualized if we are to adequately address these problems. These three aspects are: the purpose of science education; science...

Background Although there has been a pronounced growth in hip-hop-based pedagogy (HHBP) scholarship in recent years, there has not been a concomitant critique of this growing body of work. As a consequence, much of this scholarship is best characterized as advocacy of HHBP. Purpose/Objective The objective of this article is to promote critical dis...

This infographic is a complement to the article provided below. It provides a brief overview of studies which demonstrate the impact of hip hop on human thinking and behavior. Mutegi, J. W., Phelps-Moultrie, J. A., & Pitts Bannister, V. R. (2018). The snare of systemic racism and other challenges confronting hip hop based pedagogy. Teachers Colleg...

The underachievement and underrepresentation of African Americans in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines have been well documented. Efforts to improve the STEM education of African Americans continue to focus on relationships between teaching and learning and factors such as culture, race, power, class, learning pref...

In recent years there has been an increase in educational scholarship that advocates for the use of hip hop in teaching urban and underrepresented minority children. Although this body of work is still in its infancy, there is a growing need for work that translates the best of hip hop based pedagogy into classroom practice. The purpose of this art...

Early HHBE [Hip-Hop Based Education] practices have taken place most often in language arts and English education classrooms because of rap music’s clear and intuitive connections to the written, spoken, and poetic word. However, researchers and practitioners must forge meaningful connections to other disciplines, including those (like math and sci...

Although there is a significant body of work that underscores the importance of pedagogy aimed at being responsive to students' unique racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, there is relatively little work that helps science practitioners to understand what this pedagogy looks like in practice. Drawing on Mutegi's (2011) description of socially t...

The low number of African Americans pursuing careers in the natural sciences has been (and continues to be) a concern for science educators. While science educators have sought to explain the science-career decisions of

The contrast between the scientific need for objectivity and an individual's inability to see the world through a purely objective lens places science education at the intersection between injustice and epistemic certainty. Although science education and science are often seen as synonymous, their differences highlight the pervasive impact of racis...

In this article, the learning progress of one fifth-grade student is examined with regard to the development of her graph interpretation skills as she participated in the Junior Science Institute (JSI), a two-week, science intensive summer camp in which participants engaged in microbiology research and application. By showcasing the student's devel...

Current reform efforts in science education strongly advocate instruction that helps students to construct personally meaningful science knowledge. Accordingly, science teacher educators seek to provide experiences that (a) enable science teachers to understand how students might perceive science in their daily lives and (b) encourage science teach...

The mathematics success of African American male adolescents has been given limited attention. Most often, African American males are viewed in terms of their failure as opposed to their success. This tendency to focus almost exclusively on African American failure is a debilitating feature of extant literature and it constrains our understanding o...

Extant literature on the underrepresentation of African Americans in science-related careers has identified numerous factors that correlate with students' career considerations. While these correlations provide substantial insight, the tendency to infer cause is problematic. This position paper draws on data from an exploratory study to illustrate...

Earth science courses typically include the concept of geological time. Traditional approaches to teaching geologic time have turned to constructivist methodologies in an attempt to increase student understanding, but these lessons often result in students determining the scale of geologic time instead of gaining an increased understanding of the g...

Over the course of history, scientists have constructed models and equations that provide insight into the motions of the heavens. However, research indicates many people hold alternative conceptions that, to them, explain the same observable phenomenon. Science educators have found that students learning about lunar phases may hold misconceptions...

It is well documented that African Americans have been disproportionately underrepresented in science and science-related careers for over two decades. However, although there have been great efforts to address the problem through policy and intervention efforts, our research-grounded understanding of underrepresentation has not kept pace. This art...

At least since 1977, African Americans have been underrepresented in science related careers. Although researchers have identified a number of factors which correlate with students' career decisions, they have failed to explain how these factors are related to race. Moreover, this body of research has failed to consider the role of mathematics and...

Reports published since 1977 indicate that African Americans are underrepresented among Ph.D.-holding scientists. Although researchers have identified numerous factors that correlate with career choice, they have failed to address students' reasons for choosing or not choosing science and science-related careers. This study examines the career deci...

This document summarizes an interactive symposium on the experiences of nontraditional graduate students in science education doctoral programs. Two of the authors were graduate students and two were very recent graduates now in faculty positions. By virtue of their academic/political interests if not their personal differences, they acknowledged t...

In recent years science educators have placed increasing emphasis on the importance of understanding student knowledge. The research aimed at exploring student knowledge--misconception research, nature of science studies, and conceptual change research--has proved useful in telling us what concepts students know before and after instruction. Howeve...

Typescript. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 1997. Includes bibliographical references. Photocopy.