Facilitating marginalized youths' identification with STEM through everyday science talk

The critical role of parental caregivers

Bibliographic Data

ID21392765
AuthorsHeidi Cian (0000-0003-3510-2712, Department of Teaching and Learning Florida International University Miami Florida USA), Remy Dou (0000-0001-8419-265X, Department of Teaching and Learning Florida International University Miami Florida USA), Sheila Castro (Department of Teaching and Learning Florida International University Miami Florida USA), Elizabeth Palma‐D'souza (Department of Teaching and Learning Florida International University Miami Florida USA), Alexandra Martínez (0000-0002-7745-2705, Department of Teaching and Learning Florida International University Miami Florida USA)
Year2022
Volume106
Issue1
Pages57-87
Publication date2022-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0036-8326 • E-ISSN: 1098-237X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/sce.21688
OpenAlexW3202227708
LanguageEN
Citations received31
References cited100

An individual's sense of themselves as a “STEM person” is largely formed through recognition feedback. Unfortunately, for many minoritized individuals who engage in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) in formal and informal spaces, this recognition often adheres to long‐standing exclusionary expectations of what STEM participation entails and institutionalized stereotypes of what it means to be a STEM person. However, caregivers, who necessarily share cultural backgrounds, norms, and values with their children, can play an important role in recognizing their children's interest and inclination towards STEM in ways that support children's authoring of their STEM identity in the face of these marginalizing discourses. To explore this idea, we conducted phenomenological interviews with STEM students attending a Hispanic‐serving university, examining the nature of STEM‐related conversations these students had with their parents during childhood. Participant recollections provide evidence of conversational content, contexts, and structures that supported their identification with STEM even when faced with marginalizing experiences. We found that though this phenomenon was recounted across parent profiles, participant narratives also reflected differences in conversation content, context, and structure based on factors associated with STEM stereotypes, including gender, formal education or training in STEM, and parents' immigration experiences. Viewed within larger sociocultural discourses of whose knowledge “counts” in STEM, our work suggests the need for educational institutions to acknowledge and embrace families' ability to foster youths' affinity with STEM contexts, while also recognizing and responding to institutionalized impediments to authentic STEM participation

Aesthetics · Context (archaeology) · Conversation · Developmental psychology · Identification (biology) · Identity (music) · Narrative · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Career Development and Diversity · Communication · Early Childhood Education and Development · Psychology · Science Education and Pedagogy · Social Psychology