Culturally responsive elementary science teaching: a meta-analysis of current science teaching studies and implications

This study utilizes the meta-analysis method described by Timulak (Psychother Res 19(4-5):591-600, 2009) to create a more cohesive understanding of culturally responsive (CR) science teaching for in-service science teachers. Through the lens of Critical Race Theory, this study explores two questions: (1) What common themes emerge in studies investigating CR science teachers? (2) Associated with those themes, what are the shared teacher characteristics or pedagogies of CR science teachers? Five themes emerge from the selected studies, and some characteristics or pedagogies of CR science teachers overlap. The five themes that emerged were 1. Academics, 2. Cultural competency, 3. Social inequities, 4. CR learning environment, and 5. Rejections of deficit lens. But, as this study demonstrates, more research on CR science teachers and teaching is needed to explore these themes, teacher characteristics, and pedagogies further.