Schooling Experience as a Determinant of the Learning Ecologies and Futures of Third-Grade STEM Learners

• In Event: Equity and Access in Science: Understanding Pathways Frameworks for Youth Learning and Development

Abstract

Objectives & Significance
The original purpose of this study was to examine the racial identity structure of third grade students in an effort to determine how those identity structures are shaped by schooling and home experiences. Research on racial identity has yielded promising insight into the relationship between racial identity development and academic achievement. For example, Wang and Huguley (2012) found that cultural socialization and preparation for racial bias serve as protective factors for children, thus enabling them to maintain high academic performance and educational aspirations in the face of overt discrimination. These findings are reinforced in other studies (e.g. Chavous, Rivas-Drake, Smalls, Griffin, & Cogburn, 2008; Neblett, Smalls, Ford, Nguyen, & Sellers, 2009).
Because there is relatively little work on the racial identity structure of early-elementary aged students, the present study sought to describe the identity structure of this population. However, as data collection progressed, our data did not show that racial identity was prominent among the students in our sample. Instead, data showed that student identity was primarily structured around the learning ecologies that students navigated. Although all students in our sample attended the same school, these learning ecologies varied notably by the race of the student. The notion of pathways is a useful metaphor for conceptualizing these data. The study reveals that even though students share the same physical and cultural space, their possible futures and pathways are racially determined and constrained in ways that they are unable to articulate.
Theoretical Framework
This study draws from Kearney’s (1984) logico-structural model of worldview. Kearney’s model, which is grounded in a range of empirical, anthropological studies, identifies two broad categories of human cultural thought. These are “self” and “non-self.” The present study draws from worldview theory by working to identify participants’ cultural understandings of the world and their place in the world. The worldview articulation of the self is a useful fit for an anthropological approach to identity. The specific aspects of worldview of greatest interest to the present study are those that speak to students’ identity structure.
Methods and Data Sources
The sole data source was a series of semi-structured interviews. Data were collected and analyzed using Spradley’s (1979) Ethnographic Interview. In early interviews, all students were presented with the same set of broad “grand tour” questions. Subsequent interviews were based on student responses to initial interviews.
Eight students were interviewed over the course of a four-month period. Among the eight students interviewed were 1 African American female, 4 African American males, 2 Caucasian females, and 1 Caucasian male.
Results
Findings indicate that students’ identity structures are largely influenced by the socialization practices of the school. These socialization practices create, for students, different learning ecologies based on how each student is situated. While there is no effort to overtly distinguish students racially, students emerge with fairly consistent identity structures that are largely racially determined. Even students’ articulations of possible futures is heavily influenced by the socialization practices. The practices seem to constrain possible pathways rather than create them.

Author

• Jomo W. Mutegi, Indiana University - IUPUI