The K–12 STEM Experiences of African American Collegiate Women in STEM Majors: A Counternarrative

• In Event: 14.022 - Exploring the Lived Experience of College Access and Readiness Through Qualitative Inquiry

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the K-12 experiences of African American women who were currently majoring in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) major and the ways in which the messages and experiences contributed to their selecting and persisting within their STEM major. The major research question guiding this study was: How do the K-12 experiences of Black women contribute to the selection of their undergraduate STEM major? The research question was answered through a qualitative, narrative approached which not only depicted the lived experience of the individual, but provided a counternarrative of the dominant narrative about experiences of K-12 experiences of African American women.

Author

• Sharonda Renee Eggleton, North Carolina State University