Students’ Representational and Relational Caring in STEM

Studies of both professional science practice and children's science learning show that emotions, including care, are not simply ancillary to disciplinary work but a generative part of science practice.In science education research, however, students' care is often overlooked.In this paper, we describe the nature and expression of care across two classrooms studying biology and ecology and participating in a pen pal exchange.We analyze artifacts from the pen pal exchange, as well as students' retrospective interviews and written reflections.Two dimensions of care surfaced in students' letters: representational care and relational care.We discuss practical implications for learning environment design and methodological implications for recognizing and analyzing how students' caring manifests in the classroom. Objectives and significanceStudies of both professional science practice and children's science learning show that emotions, including care, are not simply ancillary to disciplinary work but a generative part of learning (e.g., Pierson et al., 2023b; Fox Keller 1985;Haraway, 2016;Jaber & Hammer, 2016).Yet, as critical scholars have noted, care has been invisibilized in science (Fletcher, 2001;Kimmerer, 2013).In science education research, students' care is often overlooked (exceptions are Krist &Surez, 2018 andMcGowan &Bell, 2022); instead, this literature primarily focuses on teachers' caring toward students (e.g., Velasquez et al., 2013) or pedagogies that promote care as part of socio-emotional learning (e.g., Garner et al., 2018).Moreover, students' expressions of care may not be recognized as such by researchers or educators; care is interpreted and enacted differently across communities, and individuals' perceptions and experiences of care are shaped by identities such as culture, race/ethnicity, gender, and religion (Antrop-Gonzlez & De Jess, 2006; Rogers & Weller, 2012).In light of these issues, we propose that it is important to foreground students' expressions of care in science classrooms in order to understand the relational, emotional, and ethical work needed to sustain generative investigations.In this paper, we describe the nature and expression of care across two classrooms studying biology and ecology and participating in a pen pal exchange.

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