2026 Theses Doctoral

Culturally Responsive Project-Based Science for Elementary School Girls of Color in an After-School Science Program

Fraser, Anansa Nicole

This dissertation presents a qualitative case study of four 4th-grade elementary school girls of Color1 who participate in a purposefully designed Culturally Responsive Project-Based Science (CRPBS) Afterschool Program. It explores their scientific inquiry-based learning processes and collaborative learning strategies as they engage in structured scientific inquiries to ultimately design and construct a STEM artifact, symbolizing an eco-friendly playground for their school community.

The goal of this study is to contribute to the limited research on how students’ scientific inquiry-based discourse and collaborative discourse in Culturally Responsive Project-Based Science shape their student group learning processes. Moreover, this study employs Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (Gay, 2018) and Culturally Relevant Teaching (Ladson-Billings, 2021) as frameworks. The data collected included the girls’ semi-structured entrance interviews, Likert-scale surveys measuring their levels of science interest, focus group discussions about their scientific inquiries, and the creation of their STEM artifacts. The girls conducted multiple scientific inquiries by engaging in the following activities: (A) Observation of a Documentary, (B) Scientific model analysis, (C) Reading and data analysis, (D) Experimentation, (E) Scientific-subject matter interviewing, and (F) Field study. They apply their understanding of the scientific evidence gathered to collaboratively design and construct a STEM artifact representing a sustainable playground.

These data were recorded, transcribed, and coded to identify emerging themes that informed interpretations of inquiry-based learning processes and collaborative learning strategies, as well as their impacts on the girls’ interest in science. The findings from this study have implications for culturally responsive and culturally relevant pedagogical practices in Project-Based Science, which can meaningfully improve the STEM identities of elementary school girls of Color.

Keywords: culturally responsive project-based science, culturally relevant teaching, girls of Color, scientific inquiry-based learning, collaborative learning strategies

1 The term girls of Color refer to Black, Asian, Indigenous, and Latina young girls (Amaka, 2024).