A Digital Story of Pathways in, Through, and Beyond Practices of Science: A Youth Participatory Project About Movement, Equity, and Agency in STEM

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

Abstract

Theoretical Framework
We ground our exploration of pathways in, through and beyond practices of science in the literature on youth mobility (Dolby & Rizvi, 2008), cross-setting approaches to the study of science literacy development (Bricker & Bell, 2014), equity and youth agency (Tan & Calabrese Barton, 2012), and youth participatory research in science (Sato, 2013). For the past six years, we have worked with a group of five first generation immigrant girls who moved to Canada from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Morocco with their families given the promise of educational opportunities and economic prosperity. We documented elsewhere the five girls’ forms of participation within an afterschool science program for girls only in which they took up the writing of scientific texts for a newsletter and science fair projects (Rahm, 2012). Through the production of a joint video documentary, the girls also told a story of what that program came to mean to them over time and in what ways it contributed to their navigations in science (Lachaîne et al., 2013).

Objectives
In this paper, we offer another joint-produced story about trajectories in science over time. The girls’ story focuses on their history as youth of color with a complex immigration trajectory, on-going movements between their home and current country of residence, and how it plays in science, at a time of escalating demographic change and deepening economic recession in Canada.

Method
Guided by youth participatory action research, we worked on the joint production of that digital story (Cammarota, & Fine, 2008; Lambert, 2013). We met for four consecutive weeks (2 hours each time), brainstorming and documenting their pathways in STEM. The story was then analysed in terms of its inherent meanings tied to STEM pathways, movement, equity and agency, together with the girls as we watched the video production together. Analysis also centered on youths’ authored selves through their choice of words, images, sound and speed in the video clip (Halverson, 2010).

Results
Alana’s part in the digital story is about the completion of her second year in a BA program in psychology, and being selected into a honours program - moves that were driven by her anticipated future career in criminal psychology. Mohini recounts her adventures as a winner of science fairs that made a complex science infrastructure accessible to her. Other agentive moves are documented that led to complex pathways in STEM, tangled up with the girls’ histories, current moves in and out of science, and the crafting of possible future selves in and beyond science.

Conclusion/Significance
The youth participatory project offers rich insights into ways mobility, movement and pathways are tangled up with academic work and intellectual abilities but also the “cultural heritage, identity, family background, and related issues of social and economic justice” that are still too often ignored (Barcélo, 2010, p. 1). Those are key to erase borders of opportunity in a quest for equity, agency and mobility, and essential to rigorous yet also public scholarship as this year’s meeting calls for, with youth.

Authors

• Jrene Rahm, University of Montreal

• Ahlia Mathura, University of Montréal

• Audrey Lamothe-Lachaîne, Université de Montréal