ABSTRACT
I was inspired by a definition of culturally responsive education as being centered around students‘ experiences to incorporate my students’ interests and experiences into a scripted science curriculum. Thus, I explore the research question: How can I use pop culture and student-centered practices to support science instruction while following a scripted curriculum? With the return to in-person teaching, my students’ common interests became clear, whether they were playing the same video games, discussing the same shows, sketching the same characters, using the same brand of backpacks, or wearing the same kinds of sneakers. I describe how I used my new understanding of students’ popular culture interests to apply strategies to incorporate students’ interests into instruction in hopes of creating a culturally responsive and sustaining classroom.
