A Framework for Culturally Responsive Lesson Design

Due to institutional and systemic barriers along with outdated instructional strategies that do not engage an increasingly diverse classroom, BIPOC students in STEM courses have not experienced the same course completion and success rates as their White and Asian counterparts. This qualitative, descriptive multi-case study utilizes an intuitive framework designed with the theoretical tenets of culturally responsive pedagogy to guide four community college STEM instructors in the creation of a culturally responsive lesson plan for their respective courses. The study examines their experience through interviews, lesson plan analysis, and student surveys. The purpose of the study was to investigate if the use of a culturally responsive framework could validate that a lesson plan was culturally responsive and explore its influence on instructors’ self-efficacy with respect to creating culturally responsive lesson plans and when executed, the perceived efficacy of the lesson. Once instructors had created and executed the framework- designed lessons, the data was collected, coded and analyzed, and then themes were created. A thematic analysis approach was used to triangulate all three sources of data. Findings in this study indicate that the Culturally Responsive Framework does aid in the academic advancement, cultural competence, and critical consciousness of all students when teachers fully embrace and use the framework. Preservice programs should provide preservice teachers instrumentation similar to the framework used in this study to help teachers to plan and design culturally responsive lessons. The STEM disciplines must examine their current practices to determine how this tool among others can be used to close the academic achievement gap experienced by BIPOC students in STEM