Culture & Identity in the Classroom

Modern chemistry was founded in Germany. Until this class I took it without thinking that this is why all chemists and engineers I learned about in school were white. It truly never really occurred to me why this might not be true. Once I started thinking about it and started researching it I was appalled to see these phenomenal chemists and engineers of all backgrounds that were not at all talked about at school. Because I am white, I can’t even begin to imagine what that must feel like to be of a different race or ethnicity and never see a professional in the field who looked like me. I had learned somewhat of the feeling having been a woman in such a male dominated field, but still there was no comparison.

 

This realization has hit me harder than anything else I have learned this year and I wish I could do it justice in this reflection. I have made it mission to be sure my classroom will reflect the myriad of contributors to science, especially to science and engineering from all branches of humanity—male and female and of all ethnicities. The classroom artwork and design should be encouraging to all students and I’m thankful that this class has opened my eyes to this.

 

I think this is a good start to ensuring an environment of culturally responsive teaching. I do not see visiting the homes of high school students as being as much of a viable possibility like it might be in an elementary school, therefore, I think much has to be done in the classroom to encourage an atmosphere and an attitude of where all backgrounds are accepted, celebrated and encouraged. At this point in this reflection, I am still very much evolving in my own views as this has been very new and exciting for me. I have been having a lot of fun thinking of how exactly I can work some of this into a high school chemistry classroom.