Embracing Culturally Relevant Education in Mathematics and Science: A Literature Review

Culturally relevant education (CRE) approaches use minoritized populations’ cultural capital to break the perennial cycle of these groups’ underperformance. Yet, mathematics and science teachers do not feel confident in using CRE approaches. This literature review explores the practices and challenges that accompany CRE implementations in math and science classrooms aiming to inform mathematics and science teachers’ preparation for equitable education. Practices were clustered in alignment with the CRE outcomes, namely cultural competence, academic achievement, and critical consciousness; further categories were inductively identified. Challenges were clustered in teachers’ beliefs, lack of inclusive tools, and influence of institutional norms. Insights from the findings inform implications for preparing math and science teachers for equitable education. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.