Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Culturally responsive pedagogy centers teaching on understanding and nurturing students' unique cultural strengths in order to support learning and foster a sense of well-being about each student's cultural place in the world.

What does culture mean and how is it central to garden-based science teaching?

  • Culture is not a trait that some people have and others do not. We are all cultural beings. Humans think culturally.
  • Culture includes the ways in which human beings engage and make sense of the world - or what might be called "sensemaking repertoires"
  • Often, cultural worlds of youth from non-dominant communities are viewed from a deficit perspective-rather than a source of relevant knowledge and expertise. Yet non-dominant ways of knowing and being have much to contribute, and must be understood and advanced in areas such as agricultural practices and ecological systems.

Science instruction is a set of cultural practices. Exploring different ways of knowing and doing science is a central part of culturally responsive science teaching. There are cultural differences in orientations toward the natural world that are critical to illuminate and interrogate.

General Resources: