What do novice teachers need to be able to teach against the grain in urban, underprivileged schools? How to prepare future teachers to successfully embrace the teaching of science for social justice? In this book, Melina Furman brings new light to these questions by sharing the findings of her study of the Urban Science Education Fellows, a teacher education program focused on bringing transformative action research to middle school urban classrooms. Numbers can be tricky. Statistics, even when they appear shocking, can sometimes overshadow the individual stories behind the numbers and reveal a particular situation as a natural state of matters that just is, and thus cannot be changed. Yet, the danger of thinking of reality as an unmodifiable entity resides in forgetting the real faces of the children who are left behind year after year. And that is why this books speaks about bringing about change to urban classrooms. Through the cases of three teachers, readers will find in this book a refreshing and insightful look at the possibilities for creating new spaces for learning in urban schools.

Melina Furman is originally from Argentina. Starting as a neuroscientist she got her Ph.D. in Science Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she directed the Urban Science Education Fellows Program. She currently lives in Buenos Aires. Her work focuses on improving science education at underprivileged schools.