Application: Culturally Responsive Science Education Professional Learning Community

We’re excited to share that a new opportunity offered by the Smithsonian, a Culturally Responsive Science Education Professional Learning Community (PLC), is now accepting applications for its 2024-2025 cohort. The program provides an opportunity to engage in a professional learning community from July 2024-February 2025 to examine how multi-disciplinary experiences and resources from museums, archives, and the local community can be tools for cultivating culturally responsive lessons and instruction.

In the program, teachers will take part in place-based experiential learning opportunities and resources in and around Washington, D.C., to examine environmental justice issues from a multidisciplinary perspective, weaving together science with the history and culture of Washington, DC.

Please thoroughly review the project webpage before completing the application.

Applications are due Monday, June 24, 2025.

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* 1. Personal Information

Name

School

Subject, classes, and grades you will teach in SY24-25

Years teaching

Email (please provide an email that you will have access to and will be checking during summer months)

Phone (please provide an email that you will have access to and will be checking during summer months)

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* 2. Teacher you are applying with.
Note: Preferential rating is given to teachers applying in multidisciplinary pairs from the same school, e.g. an environmental and a social studies teacher. Please identify the teacher you are applying with, if applicable. Each teacher will have to submit their own application for contracting purposes.

Name

School

Subject, classes, and grades you will teach in SY24-25

Teachers will provide professional, technical, non-personal services working collaboratively with the project team, led by staff in the NMNH Office of Education, Outreach & Visitor Experiences. Together, they will engage in a professional learning community to examine how transdisciplinary experiences and resources from museums, archives, and the local community can be tools for cultivating culturally responsive lessons and instruction. The project team will coordinate, and the contractor(s) are expected to participate, in place-based transdisciplinary experiences and trainings to build knowledge and skills about culturally responsive teaching, natural history and conservation science and concepts, the history and culture of DC, and methods to examine an environmental justice topic in a specific to Washington, DC.

Contractors will apply the training and experiences to their classroom instruction by designing and implementing a project-based learning project with students that is focused on environmental justice, aligned with culturally responsive pedagogy, and weaves together concepts from science, the culture and history of Washington, DC, and social and environmental justice. Teachers are expected to engage in ongoing discussion and reflection of their implementation and instructional strategies with the cohort. They will be expected to prepare a final display of students’ creative works, projects, and accomplishments at the conclusion of the project. There will be an opportunity to present this work at a final project symposium in Anchorage, Alaska in February 2025. A complete list of tasks and deliverables is outlined below.

The work will take place between July 2024-February 2025.

For the following questions, please select each task that you are committed and capable of meeting.

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* 3. Participation in scheduled trainings and place-based learning

Participate in the project kick off, a 5-day convening in Washington, DC. This will include place-based experiences around Washington, DC, Smithsonian tours, and the cohort establishing norms and expectations for the project (July 29-August 2)

Participate virtually in select sessions from the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s culturally responsive teaching conference (August 7-9)

Participate in place-based experiential learning activities in and around Washington, DC (1x/month; August-December 2024)

Participate in trainings to build skills and knowledge in the domains of culturally responsive teaching, project and object-based learning, integration of historical and museum archival materials and collections for classroom learning, and methods for engaging students and co-producing knowledge

Participate in instructional coaching sessions to support the design and development of instruction and resources that apply trainings and result in instruction that aligns with or supplements DCPS curricula

Actively participate in project discussions, learning experiences, reflections, and evaluations

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* 4. Project Development and Implementation

Develop and implement, in SY24-25, a culturally responsive, place-based learning unit centered on “The Natural History of DC” theme, aiming to examine and prepare students for youth-led action projects that address an environmental justice issue pertinent to the teacher and their learners.

Assist students in identifying a project topic

Guide students through science investigations, research, and storytelling activities, integrating perspectives from students and community members.

Facilitate authentic ties to DCPS curricula

Ensure alignment with culturally responsive pedagogy’s three core tenants: academic achievement, cultural competence, and critical consciousness

Facilitate integration of community, archival, and museum-based resources and stories

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* 5. Iterative Feedback & Evaluation

Participate in evaluations to assess the impact of implemented interventions on student learning, achievement, and engagement.

Provide feedback intermittently to project team on cohort experience for evaluation and iterative improvement

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* 6. Deliverables

A final display of students’ research projects for a larger audience. (e.g. a class exhibition)

Unit plans, lessons plans, and other documentation or evidence of project implementation

Narrative description of unit or lesson(s) alignment or complementary nature to existing DCPS curricula, if not included in the unit or lesson plans

Final reflection on project

Personal Statements
Answer the following questions to help us understand your interest, motivations, and commitment to the professional learning community. Please limit responses to 200 words or less.

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* 7. Provide a personal statement that describes why you are interested in participating in this professional learning community (PLC) and how your participation will benefit your teaching practice and your students. Describe how you will work with your co-applicant on this project and if and how your instructional approaches and content can be complementary.

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* 8. How is your experience going to support your successful participation in this project and what do you hope to gain?

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* 9. How will your students benefit from your participation?

Additional Information
Your responses to the following will not be used to evaluate your application for participation in this project.

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* 10. Content & Curriculum Connections: Do you have an environmental science or environmental justice topic specific to DC that you want to focus your work on or know more about?

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* 11. Please feel free to share any additional information that you think we should be aware of.

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