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Care Praxis-Driven STEM Design for Sustainable and Just Communities in Middle School

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Title: Care Praxis-Driven STEM Design for Sustainable and Just Communities in Middle School
Language: English
Authors: Wisam Sedawi (ORCID 0000-0002-6934-2709), Angela Calabrese Barton (ORCID 0000-0002-9555-5214), Edna Tan (ORCID 0000-0002-4583-4557)
Source: Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 2026 63(7):671-690.
Availability: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 20
Publication Date: 2026
Sponsoring Agency: National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL)
Contract Number: 2201083
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Junior High Schools
Middle Schools
Secondary Education
Descriptors: STEM Education, Middle School Teachers, Middle School Students, Caring, Ethics, Praxis, Problem Solving, Ethnography, Urban Schools, Well Being, Design, Transformative Learning, Epistemology, Humanization, Social Justice
DOI: 10.1002/tea.70063
ISSN: 0022-4308
1098-2736
Abstract: Despite the growing interest in incorporating care ethics into STEM education, these topics are rarely integrated into K-12 standards and pedagogical practice. We explore how care praxis, a political and ethical approach to STEM education, supports students' sense-making in addressing real-world problems throughout STEM design, merging social, environmental, and technical aspects. Care praxis highlights the iterative, reflective method of initiating action, acting as an ethical, political, humanistic, and justice-oriented mode of engagement with the world, thereby fostering sustainable communities. Drawing upon participatory critical design-based research and ethnographic methods, we collaborated with two teachers, students, and families from an urban middle school classroom to adapt and implement a STEM curriculum that focuses on engineering for sustainable communities. Our findings show how a care praxis in the context of a STEM unit focused on engineering for sustainable communities can support students in more expansive sense-making by enacting care-oriented, community-engaged engineering practices. The process was facilitated through four stages of caring within the design cycle: (1) caring-about social needs (identifying a problem), (2) taking-care by solidifying and prioritizing these needs (refining a problem in collaboration with community and determining criteria for solving a problem), (3) care-giving by designing solutions that connect social, environmental, and technical aspects (designing and iterating solutions), and (4) nested-care by expanding the design functionality to foster well-being and active participation in community building (integrating designs into everyday practice). We discuss how to enact the transformative potential of integrating a care praxis into middle school STEM education, thereby fostering a more contextual and ethical approach to design solutions. A care praxis approach bridges epistemologies and ontologies, creating a productive space for students to engage in sense-making around humanization and justice-oriented aspects of science and engineering.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 20260101
Accession Number: EJ1516278
Database: ERIC
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  Data: Care Praxis-Driven STEM Design for Sustainable and Just Communities in Middle School
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  Data: English
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Wisam+Sedawi%22">Wisam Sedawi</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6934-2709">0000-0002-6934-2709</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Angela+Calabrese+Barton%22">Angela Calabrese Barton</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9555-5214">0000-0002-9555-5214</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Edna+Tan%22">Edna Tan</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4583-4557">0000-0002-4583-4557</externalLink>)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Journal+of+Research+in+Science+Teaching%22"><i>Journal of Research in Science Teaching</i></searchLink>. 2026 63(7):671-690.
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  Data: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
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  Label: Peer Reviewed
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  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
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  Data: 20
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  Data: 2026
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  Data: National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL)
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  Data: 2201083
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  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Junior+High+Schools%22">Junior High Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Middle+Schools%22">Middle Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Secondary+Education%22">Secondary Education</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22STEM+Education%22">STEM Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Middle+School+Teachers%22">Middle School Teachers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Middle+School+Students%22">Middle School Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Caring%22">Caring</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ethics%22">Ethics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Praxis%22">Praxis</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Problem+Solving%22">Problem Solving</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ethnography%22">Ethnography</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Urban+Schools%22">Urban Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Well+Being%22">Well Being</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Design%22">Design</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Transformative+Learning%22">Transformative Learning</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Epistemology%22">Epistemology</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Humanization%22">Humanization</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+Justice%22">Social Justice</searchLink>
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  Data: 10.1002/tea.70063
– Name: ISSN
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  Data: 0022-4308<br />1098-2736
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
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  Data: Despite the growing interest in incorporating care ethics into STEM education, these topics are rarely integrated into K-12 standards and pedagogical practice. We explore how care praxis, a political and ethical approach to STEM education, supports students' sense-making in addressing real-world problems throughout STEM design, merging social, environmental, and technical aspects. Care praxis highlights the iterative, reflective method of initiating action, acting as an ethical, political, humanistic, and justice-oriented mode of engagement with the world, thereby fostering sustainable communities. Drawing upon participatory critical design-based research and ethnographic methods, we collaborated with two teachers, students, and families from an urban middle school classroom to adapt and implement a STEM curriculum that focuses on engineering for sustainable communities. Our findings show how a care praxis in the context of a STEM unit focused on engineering for sustainable communities can support students in more expansive sense-making by enacting care-oriented, community-engaged engineering practices. The process was facilitated through four stages of caring within the design cycle: (1) caring-about social needs (identifying a problem), (2) taking-care by solidifying and prioritizing these needs (refining a problem in collaboration with community and determining criteria for solving a problem), (3) care-giving by designing solutions that connect social, environmental, and technical aspects (designing and iterating solutions), and (4) nested-care by expanding the design functionality to foster well-being and active participation in community building (integrating designs into everyday practice). We discuss how to enact the transformative potential of integrating a care praxis into middle school STEM education, thereby fostering a more contextual and ethical approach to design solutions. A care praxis approach bridges epistemologies and ontologies, creating a productive space for students to engage in sense-making around humanization and justice-oriented aspects of science and engineering.
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        Value: 10.1002/tea.70063
    Languages:
      – Text: English
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        PageCount: 20
        StartPage: 671
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      – SubjectFull: STEM Education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Middle School Teachers
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      – SubjectFull: Middle School Students
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      – SubjectFull: Caring
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      – SubjectFull: Ethnography
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      – SubjectFull: Urban Schools
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      – SubjectFull: Well Being
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      – SubjectFull: Design
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      – SubjectFull: Transformative Learning
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      – SubjectFull: Epistemology
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      – SubjectFull: Humanization
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      – SubjectFull: Social Justice
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    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Care Praxis-Driven STEM Design for Sustainable and Just Communities in Middle School
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            NameFull: Angela Calabrese Barton
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            NameFull: Edna Tan
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              Y: 2026
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