Using skateboarding to develop a culturally relevant tutorial on static equilibrium

Abstract

Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP), initially developed by Ladson-Billings, is an instructional framework for supporting diverse learners by drawing on their cultural backgrounds and experiences. In line with the CRP framework, we developed a tutorial on static equilibrium using skateboarding, a popular activity on university campuses, as a culturally relevant context. To help students refine their conceptions about static equilibrium documented in the physics education research (PER) literature, we used the elicit-confront-resolve (ECR) strategy to develop the tutorial. In this paper, we provide a detailed account of how we operationalized the ECR strategy in designing the sequences of questions in the tutorial. Additionally, we present anecdotal evidence to show that this research-based culturally relevant tutorial appears to effectively engage students and motivate their interest in learning physics.