UNC School of Education

Associate Professor of Science Education

T 919.843.9133
F 919.962.1533
rparsons@email.unc.edu

307B Peabody Hall
CB 3500

An associate professor of science education, Eileen R. Carlton Parsons teaches in the Ph.D. in Education; Culture, Curriculum and Change Program and the Master of Arts in Teaching Program. Prior to joining the faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill, she taught physical science, chemistry and math in the public schools of North Carolina and worked as an assistant professor at Lenoir-Rhyne College and N.C. State University. The catalyst for her professional choices and the inspiration behind her professional efforts is to elucidate and improve the circumstances of marginalized populations in science education. Her service, research and teaching highlight access, equity and equality.

Her research and scholarship diverge from and call into question the universalistic view of science. This perspective of science includes beliefs that the validity of a scientific account is objective and resides in the physical world itself; factors like power, culture, race, gender, and ethnicity of the participants involved in and learners of science are irrelevant. In addition to investigating learning contexts with respect to culture and race, she employs constructs and findings from research on the education of Blacks. Specifically, she introduced a comprehensive framework that synthesizes and adds to the theoretical models used by a small cadre of science education researchers interested in the influences of social context upon the science educative experiences of groups marginalized in science. By providing some coherency to existing work, this framework is instrumental in fortifying and moving forward this emerging research area in science education.

In concert with her research and scholarship, she highlights and works to alter inequitable practices through service and teaching. Her service includes extensive involvement and leadership in the Association for Science Teacher Education, National Association for Research in Science Teaching, and American Educational Research Association as well as editorial board membership for the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Science Education, and Electronic Journal of Science Education. Through research, service, and teaching that is positioned within a critical socio-cultural framework, she educates many about the ideal (quality education that is accessible to all) and mentors others in what can be done to realize it.

• Postdoctoral Fellow 1998-1999 - Ford Foundation
• Ph.D. 1994 - Cornell University, Science Education
• M.S. 1991 - Cornell University, Science Education
• B.S. 1989 - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Science Teaching (chemistry)
• Licensed in Science Teaching (9-12) and Math (9-12)

• Race
  
• Culture
  
• Social Context
• African American Science Achievement (K-postsecondary)
• Research Overview

• General research methodologies
  
• Critical and theoretical perspectives
• Science education

• 2008, NIMH Leadership Training Institute
• 2005, Association for Science Teacher Education Contribution of Research to Practice Paper award.
• 1998 and 2002, Who's Who Among America's Teachers
• 1998, Powerful Ideas in Physical Science Summer Faculty Enhancement Program, National Science Foundation and Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge LA.
• 1997, Teacher Research Update Experience, National - Science Foundation and University of Florida, Gainesville FL.
• 1991, Outstanding Young Women of America

• 2008-2010, co-PI. The African Diaspora: Developing Black Scholars in Science Education for the 21st Century in the United States. National Science Foundation.
• 2005-2007, PI. Exemplary Science Teachers and Teaching in Urban Elementary and Middle Schools:  Teacher Practices and African American versus European American Student Perceptions.  Spencer Foundation Small Research Grant.
• 2002-2004, PI. Culturally Congruent Science Instruction - A Positive Influence upon the Achievement of African American students? American Educational Research Association Grant

• 2009-present Associate Editor, Journal of Research in Science Teaching
• 2008, AERA Division G-Social Context of Education, Affirmative Action Committee
• 2007-2009, American Educational Research Association, Division C (Section 4), Executive Review Board for Conference Proposals
• 2007-2010, Editorial Board of Science Education
• 2005-2008, Editorial Board, Journal of Research in Science Teaching
• 2005-2007, Workshop Co-Coordinator. National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) Equity Committee
• 2004-2007, Member, NARST Equity Committee
• 2001-2003, Member, NARST Outstanding Paper Committee
• 1999-2000, Coordinator, Teaching Strand for NARST annual conference.
• 1998-1999, Co-Coordinator, Teaching Strand for NARST annual conference.
• 1998-1999, Member, NARST Outstanding Paper Committee Member
• 2005-2008, Board Member, Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE)
• 2005-2008, Chair, ASTE Equity Committee
• 2002, Conference Evaluation Coordinator, ASTE Program Committee

Parsons, E. C. & Moore, F. (in press). Black feminist thought: The lived experiences of two Black female science educators. In K. Scantlebury (Ed.), Re-visioning Science Education from Feminist Perspectives: Challenges, choices, and careers. The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

Parsons, E. C., Simpson, J. S., & Cooper, J. (2009).  Low status and positionality of African Americans: A critique of science education reform and research.  In W-M Roth & K. tobin (Eds.), The World of Science Education Handbook, Handbook of Research in North America, Vol. 1 (pp. 331-351).  The Netherlands:  Sense Publishers.

Simpson, J. & Parsons, E. C. (2009).  African American perspectives and informal science educational experiences. Science Education, 93(2), 293-321.

Parsons, E. C. (2008).  Positionality of African Americans and a theoretical accommodation of it:  Re-thinking science education research.  Science Education, 92(6), 1127-1144.

Parsons, E. C. (2008). Learning contexts, Black cultural ethos, and the science achievement of African American students in an urban middle school. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 45(6), 665-683.

Parsons, E. C., Foster, S., Travis, C., & Simpson, J. (2008). Diversity knowledge in science teacher education: A case specific to African Americans. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 19(1), 69-83.

Parsons, E. C., Tran, L., & Travis, C. (2008).  An investigation from the perspective of race of student roles in small, racially mixed science groups. International Journal of Science Education, 30(11), 1464-1489.

Parsons, E. C. (2007). Functioning in two disparate worlds. In K. Tobin & W. M. Roth (Eds.), The Culture of Science Education: Historical and Biographical Perspectives. The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

Parsons, E. C., Travis, C., & Simpson, J.S. (2005). The black cultural ethos, students' instructional context preferences, and student achievement: An examination of culturally congruent science instruction in the eighth grade classes of one African American and one Euro-American teacher. The Negro Educational Review, 56(2, 3), 183-203. (project funded by American Educational Research Association Grant)

Parsons, E. C. (2005). From caring as a relation to culturally relevant caring: A white teacher’s bridge to black students. Equity and Excellence in Education, 38(1), 25-34. (project funded by Ford Foundation postdoctoral fellowship)

Parsons, E. C. (2003). A teacher's use of the environment to facilitate the social development of children into subjects. Journal of Research in Childhood Education: An international journal of research on the education of children, infancy through early adolescence, 18(1), 57-70. (project funded by Ford Foundation postdoctoral fellowship)

Parsons, E. C. (2002). Using comparisons of multiage learning environments in the United States to critique two teachers' achievement of their democratic aims. Learning Environments Research: An International Journal, 5(2), 185-202. (project funded by Ford Foundation postdoctoral fellowship)

Parsons, E. C. (2001). Using power and caring to mediate white male privilege, equality, and equity in an urban elementary classroom: Implications for teacher preparation. Urban Review, 33(4), 321-338. (project funded by Ford Foundation postdoctoral fellowship)