Transforming Ideas About Who Can Do Science: Shifting Power for Racially/Ethnically Underrepresented Youth Through Participation in Summer Science Research Programs

• In Event: 33.078 - Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: 33.078-9 - Schooling and the Racialized Subject

Abstract

This research examines how the resources made available in science learning environments mediate relationships between race, learning and identification processes in science. This study explores youth of colors’ incoming ideas about who does/can do science, how they see themselves in relation to science, and how this shifts following program participation. I draw on three data sources: 1) pre/post program surveys, 2) pre/post student interviews, and 3) program observations. Findings show that students’ characterizations of scientists and the racial narratives that emerged aligned/contrasted with their incoming orientations to science in dynamic ways. This research provides empirical evidence for the types of program resources that support holistic shifts in youth of colors’ ideas about who can do science.

Author

• Tammie Visintainer, TERC