#815: “It’s aligned with my personal beliefs, i can do this”: How Science Educators Navigate Tensions Between Official and Counter Scripts of Science and Learning

This study examines how informal science educators transform their lived experiences of migration, activism, and encounters with marginalization into pedagogical commitments focused on social justice. Drawing on Holland and Lave’s history-in-person and Gutiérrez’s third-space concepts, we explore how educators’ histories serve as mediational resources that shape teaching philosophies and reconfigure who belongs in science. Using semi-structured interviews with community scientists from Daphnia, an after-school science organization serving marginalized youth, the analysis traces how educators navigated and re-authored official and unofficial scripts about legitimate science and participation. Findings reveal that educators mobilize personal histories to create hybrid pedagogical spaces emphasizing freedom, flexibility, and epistemic justice. These third-space negotiations obscure boundaries between scientific and community knowledge, transforming science into a relational, participatory practice rooted in care and belonging. By conceptualizing informal educators as historical actors, this study highlights their critical role in social transformation.