Black Girls as Community Change Agents: Sustaining Participatory Practices in STEM Learning

• In Event: 64.033 - Innovative and Promising Pedagogy and Practices: The Social Context of Motivation

Abstract

Black girls are often pushed out, discouraged, or simply not provided with the social, cultural, and academic capital needed to be successful in STEM. This paper argues that STEM curriculum and pedagogy should be grounded in the lived experiences of Black girls and advocates for a culturally sustaining approach that recognizes their cultural practices as integral to the process of STEM learning. Through a data-sharing initiative with a community organization, we analyzed 3,120 individual responses to application questions for a weeklong residential leadership conference for Black girls. Using this approach, we identified community participation as an important cultural practice among Black girls and positioned these participatory experiences as valuable sources of STEM knowledge that challenge deficit perspectives of Black girls.

Authors

• Patricia Garcia, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Cecilia Henriquez Fernandez, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Ashley Nicole Jackson, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor