Final Examination of Lori M. Edmonds (Cohort 10)
Dissertation Defense
Title: Student-Centered Funds of Knowledge in the Secondary Science Classroom: An Ethnography
Rooted in sociocultural learning theory and stemming from Luis Moll’s research, this study explores how educators can apply students’ out-of-school lives to secondary science content. This inquiry was conducted as a collaborative ethnographic study of a teacher and her class of students who “would not typically take chemistry in high school.” It focuses on how the teacher built a learning community that incorporated diverse students’ funds of knowledge. Rather than just getting her students to pass the class needed for college admission, this study shows how the teacher was able to move her students from the margins of science learning toward the epicenter of a science-understanding community.
Dissertation Committee:
JoAnn Crandall, Chair
Nancy Rankie Shelton, Co-Chair
Susan Blunck
Jennifer Maher
Luis Moll
The public is welcome to observe.
Date and Location: March 31, 2016 at 11:00 a.m.
LLC Conference Room, 422 Sherman Hall A
Posted: March 21, 2016, 10:11 PM