College of Education and Human Development

Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development

Bhaskar Upadhyay

  • Pronouns: he, him, his

  • Professor; Director of Graduate Studies; Rodney Wallace Professor for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning

  • Office Hours

    by appointment

Bhaskar Upadhyay

Areas of interest

  • Equity, social justice, and urban teacher education in STEM Education
  • Race and racism in STEM Education 
  • STEM Education and Food Security in the Global South 
  • Indigenous Science Knowledge (ISK)
Degrees

Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin

Biography

As a former science teacher, I am interested in research and teaching that addresses issues of science teaching and learning in the high-poverty urban schools. At the K-12 level I not only want to examine how science teaching and learning can be improved in the classrooms but also look at issues of access, ethnicity, and race that surround science education in our urban schools.

In addition, my research focuses on how social justice and equity be achieved through science education. In this regard, I examine the nature and purposes of science education for students from high-poverty, immigrant, and minority families. I use the theories of critical pedagogy, culturally responsive and culturally relevant pedagogy, social justice, constructivist learning, and context based instruction to understand and critically examine these issues in the context of science teaching and learning.

I am using Linking Food and Environment (LiFE) curriculum to understand teachers' thinking about students' lived experiences in teaching science. LiFE is an elementary level curriculum designed by Teachers College to teach life and the environment science to urban school children.

Through various research grants and projects I am examining:

  1. community and science
  2. science as an agent for change, empowerment, and social justice for urban minority youths
  3. the intersection of science and socio-cultural habits in urban school settings
  4. issues of science learning for the students from immigrant families and roles of immigrant parents in their children's science learning
  5. social justice and equity

Courses Taught 

CI 8571—Equity, Policy and Social Justice in Science Education

CI 5536—Equity, Policy, and Assessment in Science Education

CI 5501—Teaching Science and Health in the Elementary School

Publications

Szostkowski, A. & Upadhyay, B. (2019 c). Looking forward by looking back: Equity in science education as a socially just and morally healing act. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 14, 335-353.

Fortney, B., Morrison, D., Rodriguez, A., & Upadhyay, B. (2019a). Rethinking equity in science teacher education: Introduction to special issue. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 14, 259-263. [Order of authorship is alphabetical].

Cadieux, K.V., Carpenter, S., Blumberg, R., Liebman, A., & Upadhyay, B. (2019b). Reparation Ecologies: Regimes of Repair in Populist Agroecology. Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 109, 644-660.

Albrecht, N. & Upadhyay, B. (2018). What do refugee mothers want in U.S. school science: Learning from the perceptions of science of three Somali mothers. The Urban Review, 50, 604-629.

Upadhyay, B.; Maruyama, G. & Albrecht, N. (2017). Taking an active stance: How urban elementary students connect sociocultural experiences in learning science. International Journal of Science Education, 39, 2528-2547.

Michelle Fleming, M., Kenyon, L.O., Kenyon, L. & Upadhyay, B. (2015). Democratic Science: Engaging Middle School Students in Meaningful Practices through Community Engagement. Education in Democracy, 7, 37-63.

Maruyama, G., Jones, R., Adams, M., Upadhyay, B. (2014). Including Communities in Urban University-School Partnerships. Scholar-Practitioner Quarterly, 7, 364-379.

Upadhyay, B. (2012). Elementary students’ ways of seeing globalization in science. In J. Bianchini, V. Akerson, A. Calabrese Barton, O. Lee, and A. Rodriguez (Eds.), Moving the Equity Agenda Forward:  Equity Research, Practice, and Policy in Science Education (pp. 99-118). Rotterdam, Netherlands: Springer Publisher. 

Upadhyay, B. & Albrecht, N. (2011). Deliberative Democracy in an Urban Elementary Science Classroom. In S. Basu, A. Calabrese Barton, E. Tan (Eds.), Building the Expertise to Empower Low-Income Minority Youth in Science (pp.75-83). Rotterdam, Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

Upadhyay, B. & Gifford, A. (2011). Changing lives: Coteaching immigrant students in a middle school science classroom. In C. Murphy & K. Scantlebury (Eds.), Coteaching in international contexts: Research and practice (p. 263-280). New York, NY: Springer.

Barton, A.C. & Upadhyay, B. (2010). Teaching and Learning Science for Social Justice: Introduction to the Special Issue. Equity and Excellence in Education, 43, 1-5.

Upadhyay, B. (2010). Middle school science teachers’ perceptions of social justice: A study of two elementary teachers. Equity and Excellence in Education, 43, 56-71.

Upadhyay, B. (2009). Narratives, choices, alienation, and identity: Learning from an elementary science teacher. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 4, 601-610.

Upadhyay, B. (2009). Negotiating identity and science teaching in a high-stakes testing environment: An elementary teacher's perceptions. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 4, 569-586.

Upadhyay, B. R. (2006). Using students’ lived experiences in an urban science classroom: An elementary school teacher’s thinking. Science Education, 90 (1), 94-110.

Upadhyay, B.R. (1996). General School Science (Part 6). Nepal Sahitya Prakashan: Kathmandu, Nepal.

Upadhyay, B.R. (1991). Complete School Physics with Astronomy for classes IX & X. S. Prasad & Co.: Kathmandu, Nepal.