Engaging disenfranchised urban youth in science learning

Abstract

This article shows selective international perspectives on how teachers, university professors, and researchers in teacher education programs strive to support school completion for disenfranchised students. The purpose of this work was to elicit the perceptions of science and humanities educators in Spain and in Alberta, Canada, regarding enhancing opportunities to retain disenfranchised students in secondary schools. Anecdotes, comments, and opinions from those educators support the basic contention in this article. This part of the research focuses on the science education of disenfranchised students and brings insight into the crucial role that higher education professionals play in educating science teachers in the appropriate pedagogy. For the purpose of this article, disenfranchised is defined as at-risk of leaving school prior to high school completion due to personal circumstances such as poverty, family difficulties, drug addiction, and violent communities.