UCLA

K–12 curriculum often presents science as a mundane and irrelevant subject in the lives of urban students of color. As such, researchers have begun to investigate the use of place-based methods to support meaningfulness and relevancy in science learning. This study provides an in-depth examination of features of design that can be used in science curriculum to ground learning in students’ lives and communities. Building on a funds of knowledge framework and Indigenous models of community-based science, this qualitative investigation examined the impact of these features of design on students’ conceptualizations of environmental and social justice issues in their communities. By examining the development and implementation of a year-long community-based science curriculum in one urban middle school, this study sought to illustratean approach to support educators who seek to make community curricular, and to connect science concepts and learning more succinctly to the contexts of their students’ lives, knowledge, and experiences. Data from this dissertation revealed strategies of curricular design that embed students’ communities and attune to their funds of knowledge as assets to the learning space, both in written materials and dialogue structure. Additionally, findings also provided a description of how students conceptualize and express their understandings and interpretations of community environmental and social justice issues, and their effects, when engaging in community-based curriculum. As the “why” regarding the use of funds of knowledge in science has been thoroughly explored in prior research, this study sought to speak to “how” science can be reimagined as a subject connected to students’ everyday lives and experiences through collaborative design. As such, this study also aimed to add to the literature that redefines ideas of what counts as scientific knowledge, and who holds scientific knowledge. Collectively, this work provides educators with curricular and pedagogical structures and practices to ground science learning in more meaningful and relevant contexts for urban students of color. As such, this dissertation offers recommendations for research, practice, and design for future work that explores the use of community-based science curricular and pedagogical strategies in urban school settings.