Papers by Randy Yerrick, Ph.D.
Journal of Latinos and Education , 2025
In an era when equity and social justice are at the forefront of our national agenda, many STEM s... more In an era when equity and social justice are at the forefront of our national agenda, many STEM supports for underrepresented students have been skuttled. Yet Hispanic Serving Institutions continue to press forward to understand barriers and provide support. We studied ways to broaden participation of Latine engineering students through academic and career advising, student and faculty workshops, and direct mentoring. Students rated the helpfulness of resources put into place and discussed the existing barriers to their success. Mentors played a strong role in advising and advocating for students to increase retention and in offering rewarding experiences for students of this Hispanic Serving Institution. Implications are discussed for leveraging mentor relationships more broadly for the academic and career success of Latine students. We conclude that explicating cultural capital, utilizing mentors, and engaging faculty directly can impact the frequency of events leading to so-called imposter phenomenon for underrepresented students and can reduce attrition from the ranks of undergraduate engineers.
Journal of Science Teacher Education, 1998
Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2010
The purpose of this study was to construct an interpretation of lower track science students’ not... more The purpose of this study was to construct an interpretation of lower track science students’ notions of expertise in science teaching. Data were collected and transcribed from focus groups, teacher journals, classrooms events, and student artifacts. Students responded to focus group prompts over the course of a years regarding how and why they chose to learn science from their teachers based on affective attributes, advocacy/impedance, and identity. Results showed that lower track science students closely associate affective teacher attributes with effective teaching strategies. In addition, students identified advocacy or impedance in academic success based on personal experience rather than other more overt characteristics such as race or gender as a major determinant for their successful science learning. Implications for research and teacher education in diverse settings are discussed.
Journal of Science Teacher Education, 2005
This study examined the use of digital video editing as the main venue for fostering reflection. ... more This study examined the use of digital video editing as the main venue for fostering reflection. The impact of digital video editing technology on preservice teachers' beliefs included shifts in (a) reflections regarding children's thinking, (b) planning and instruction informed by reflection, and (c) notions of teaching expertise and requisite knowledge. Results were based on an instructional approach emphasizing the exploration of preservice teachers' own planning and teaching as they edited their own video accounts. These findings contrast typical video usage in teacher preparation in which teachers reflect upon the practice of others. Implications for teacher education programs and future research are discussed.
Cultural Studies of Science Education, 2011
The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of requisite teacher knowledge for teaching l... more The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of requisite teacher knowledge for teaching lower-track science students. Using video accounts, student focus groups, and teacher reflections researchers documented missteps, dead-ends, and unfruitful trajectories informed by the teacher's incoming knowledge and compared these instances to necessary modifications informed by students' voices and cultural artifacts. Our study revealed the shifting nature of sociocultural and pedagogical content knowledge of the teacher immersed in a context unlike that he experienced as a student. Results showed that teachers of majority backgrounds could learn to teach diverse students with at least moderate success from the perspective of their students. Implications for research and teacher education in diverse settings are discussed. Keywords Equity Á Rural Á African American youth Á Tracking Á Teacher knowledge Á Ethnography American schools are currently more segregated now than at any point since the legalized desegregation of the 1960s and are following a trend of increasing segregation in both schools and in classrooms with each passing year (Orfield and Lee 2005). Exacerbated by economic disparities and altering demographic phenomena like ''White flight'' from urban settings, urban and rural American school contexts are becoming less diverse and increasingly dichotomous with each passing year (Weis and Fine 2005). While this is not segregation by law, de facto segregation caused by a variety of political and economic constraints is every bit as real and damaging. Racial and class achievement gaps persist year to year despite decades of educational reform efforts (Rodriguez 2004). Students from marginalized backgrounds are not finding the same academic attainment or achievement as their mainstream counterparts (Weis 2008).
Commentary: When Culturally Sustaining Science Pedagogy Becomes “Sticky”
Adding Necessary Rigor to Engineering Pedagogical Change: Instructional Innovation Versus Research-Informed Counter-Resistance
The Journal of College Science Teaching, Jun 30, 2021
Engineering Problem Typology-based Reflection and Communication of Undergraduate Engineering Experiences: Professional Engineers’ Evaluation of Students’ Mock Interview Responses
2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Jul 26, 2021
Thinking About Design Thinking: Toward Capturing Students’ Metacognition in Solving Design Problems
In this short-paper we describe the ongoing development of a research methodology toward accessin... more In this short-paper we describe the ongoing development of a research methodology toward accessing how students think about design. Consideration of the formulation of a design problem statement that is suitable for supporting discussion with students from multiple disciplines at various points in their engineering education is the specific focus. The discussion draws from work on problem typology, design thinking, and metacognition as a theoretical basis that informs the problem formulation and planned approach for analysis.
“How Can We Look Toward the Horizon, with Our Ears to the Ground?” Some Challenges to Conceptualize Science Teacher Education From a Culturally Responsive Perspective
Journal of curriculum and pedagogy, Jun 1, 2007
I Read, I Learn, iMovie: Strategies for Developing Literacy in the Context of Inquiry-Based Science Instruction
Reading Online, 2001
Contrasting sociolinguistic and normative approaches to redesigning school
Randy: I think it is valuable to discuss scientific work from its social context and that such an... more Randy: I think it is valuable to discuss scientific work from its social context and that such an interpretation is not divorced from the cognitive processes and epistemic values endemic to such work. Using children's interactions (especially between overt academic direction like the whelk) bring lofty academic goals into clearer focus. We probably can all identify at least one example from literature that is guilty of “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.” I also appreciate your pointing out the futility of arguing anthropologically about the way science ...
One foot on the dock and one foot on the boat: Differences among preservice science teachers' interpretations of field-based science methods in culturally diverse contexts
Science Education, Mar 20, 2003
Social interaction and the use of analogy: An analysis of preservice teachers' talk during physics inquiry lessons
Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Apr 17, 2003
Analogies have been argued to be central in the process of establishing conceptual growth, making... more Analogies have been argued to be central in the process of establishing conceptual growth, making overt connections and carryover into an intended cognitive domain, and providing a generative venue for developing conceptual understanding inherent in constructivist learning. However, students' specific uses of analogies for constructing arguments are not well understood. Specifically, the results of preservice teachers' knowledge gains are not widely studied. Although we would hope that engaging preservice science teachers in exemplary lessons would assist them in using and generating analogies more expertly, it is not clear whether or how such curricula would affect their learning or teaching. This study presents an existence proof of how preservice science teachers used analogies embedded in their course materials Physics by Inquiry. This fine‐grained analysis of small group discourse revealed three distinct roles of analogies including the development of: (a) cognitive process skills, (b) scientific conceptual understanding, and (c) social contexts for problem solving. Results suggest that preservice teachers tend to overgeneralize the analogies inserted by curriculum materials, map irrelevant features of analogies into collaborative problem solving, and generate personal analogies, which counter scientific concept development. Although the authors agree with the importance of collaborative problem solving and the insertion of analogies for preservice teachers' conceptual development, we believe much more needs to be understood before teachers can be expected to construct and sustain effective learning environments that rely on using analogies expertly. Implications for teacher preparation are also discussed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 443–463, 2003
Deaf/hard-of-hearing postsecondary students may have some misconceptions surrounding scientific c... more Deaf/hard-of-hearing postsecondary students may have some misconceptions surrounding scientific concepts that might be partially ascribed to a lack of access to culturally-responsive forms of pedagogy. The Deaf and hard-of-hearing community is diverse in communication modes, including those who use American Sign Language as their primary language, and therefore, some students from this population may display characteristics similar to English Language Learners. Through classroom discourse analyses and interviews, we found a general lack of persuasion characteristics used by most students in an environmental science unit, and that the lack of higher-level scientific argumentation skills seemed to be related to students not having prior exposure to persuasive strategies. With the goal of improving Deaf and hard-of-hearing students' equitable access to quality science education, strategies should be considered in teaching approaches, and results suggest the need to include scientific argumentation tasks within sociocultural learning contexts. Ultimately, the goal is to work toward educating and engaging Deaf and hard-of-hearing students in science inquiry and improving the environmental scientific literacy of this underrepresented group.
Science education international, Oct 5, 2017
As science fiction has a way of capturing the human imagination that few other genres can rival, ... more As science fiction has a way of capturing the human imagination that few other genres can rival, this study sought to investigate the effects of using science fiction on the performance and interest of high school chemistry students. An action research approach was used to guide the first author's practice as she studied two college preparatory chemistry classrooms. One class was used as a control group and received traditional chemistry instruction through lecture and labs. The second class was provided with supplemental excerpts of science fictional reading and film. Student scores on a pre-assessment and post-assessment achievement test items were analyzed and supplemented with student interviews and field note observations, and a teacher reflective journal was used to complement achievement data and inform findings regarding the effectiveness of including fiction as a pedagogical choice. Implications for this study on teaching tools, methodologies, and curriculum development are discussed.
Journal of Science Education and Technology, Aug 3, 2012
Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer Science+Bu... more Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be selfarchived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your work, please use the accepted author's version for posting to your own website or your institution's repository. You may further deposit the accepted author's version on a funder's repository at a funder's request, provided it is not made publicly available until 12 months after publication.
Same school, separate worlds: A sociocultural study of identity, resistance, and negotiation in a rural, lower track science classroom
Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2001
This ethnographic study examined how rural, lower track, underrepresented students made sense of ... more This ethnographic study examined how rural, lower track, underrepresented students made sense of their place in school and what role school science played in their cultural reproduction. The objectives of the study were to identify key components of science classroom discourse, analyze means of negotiating these components, and explicate participants' beliefs and roles in defining microcultural identities specific to rural, underrepresented school contexts. Eight students and their teacher participated in this study, which drew heavily upon teacher and student revoicing of common events. Results showed that the quality of science instruction was subverted through a process of negotiation between students and teachers in the context of low expectations and the school culture. Implications for research and practice are discussed. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 574–598, 2001
Language and Literacy: A Problem for America's Science Classrooms
Science education international, 1998
Cultural Studies of Science Education, Aug 16, 2011
The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of requisite teacher knowledge for teaching l... more The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of requisite teacher knowledge for teaching lower-track science students. Using video accounts, student focus groups, and teacher reflections researchers documented missteps, dead-ends, and unfruitful trajectories informed by the teacher's incoming knowledge and compared these instances to necessary modifications informed by students' voices and cultural artifacts. Our study revealed the shifting nature of sociocultural and pedagogical content knowledge of the teacher immersed in a context unlike that he experienced as a student. Results showed that teachers of majority backgrounds could learn to teach diverse students with at least moderate success from the perspective of their students. Implications for research and teacher education in diverse settings are discussed. Keywords Equity Á Rural Á African American youth Á Tracking Á Teacher knowledge Á Ethnography American schools are currently more segregated now than at any point since the legalized desegregation of the 1960s and are following a trend of increasing segregation in both schools and in classrooms with each passing year (Orfield and Lee 2005). Exacerbated by economic disparities and altering demographic phenomena like ''White flight'' from urban settings, urban and rural American school contexts are becoming less diverse and increasingly dichotomous with each passing year (Weis and Fine 2005). While this is not segregation by law, de facto segregation caused by a variety of political and economic constraints is every bit as real and damaging. Racial and class achievement gaps persist year to year despite decades of educational reform efforts (Rodriguez 2004). Students from marginalized backgrounds are not finding the same academic attainment or achievement as their mainstream counterparts (Weis 2008).
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Papers by Randy Yerrick, Ph.D.