In this study, I conducted three separate, but interrelated studies that examine the ways preservice teachers (PSTs) generatively developed youth-centered, equity-oriented pedagogical imaginaries in their methods courses and how they enacted these practice(s) in their field experiences. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand how and in what ways a science methods course can support PSTs in the critical uptake of youth (and community) knowledge(s) and practice(s) and how classroom communities in the field can shift/shape these enactments. In this work, I foreground youth counternarratives of the culture of power in science as a critical part of learning to teach of science for PSTs –this study has never been done before. The first study explores how there is a culture of power in science education, particularly in the ways of knowing, doing and being that are legitimized differently from youth’s in-school and out-of-school experiences. This legitimization affects the ways youth feel recognized/positioned and ultimately supported to take-action in their science education. Using counternarratives of the culture of power in science as a framework, in this study, I worked with youth from an after-school green energy program to co-develop digital multimodal cases of science learning. In the second study, I examined the ways seventeen PSTs, in their elementary science methods course, were supported in developing youth-centered, equity-oriented imaginaries for teaching science to diverse learners. Using the framework imaginaries as practice, I wanted to know 1) in what ways do PSTs take up youth knowledge(s) and practice(s) in science/engineering learning and 2) how this up-take inform the development of youth-centered, equity-oriented teaching practice(s) in ways PSTs imagine enacting their future teaching experiences. In the third study, I followed three preservice elementary science teachers in a six-week engineering teaching experience at Liberty Spanish Immersion School in Great Lakes City, Michigan. Using the framework enactments as practice, I aimed to understand 1) in what ways do preservice elementary science teachers enact youth-centered, equity-oriented teaching practice(s) in an engineering unit focused on teaching engineering design for sustainable communities and 2) how are these enactments shaped by local contentious practice. Implications for this dissertation study include designing a methods course alongside field experiences in support of critically engaging PSTs with cultural/historical/social community underpinnings of youth in equitably consequential ways.
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