Identity Development of Black Oromo High School Students

• In Event: Engagement of Black Youth and Families in Emergent Social and Educational Spaces

Abstract

Purpose
This study explores the experiences of Black-Oromo high school students attending schools in the Pacific Northwest. By centering Black voices and experiences, we explore the highlighted experiences in their STEAM courses in school. This work attends to STEAM education by drawing on Black-Oromo youth perspectives that connect to Blackness, and what it means to be Black in STEAM. Through understanding the highlighted experiences in their STEAM experience and the contextual factors that have impacted their identity development as students, this study aims to bring light to what it means for these students to be Black and Oromo in STEAM.

Theoretical Framework

I have situated my work within the broader field of Learning Sciences and research that centers identity development within context and in relation to the people and tools in those spaces (Nolen et al. 2012). Identity development is influenced within a setting and what resources and experiences are made available (Nasir, 2012). From this perspective, I focus on understanding identity development from a Sociocultural perspective and engage in how participants imagine their future selves in STEAM and provide space for reflection. (Holland, 2001).

Methodology

Participants of this study consisted of Black-Oromo High School students who attend high school in King County, WA and who have attended programs at the Oromo Cultural Center inthe Northwest. A focus group was conducted and participants were both 1st and 2nd generation students in America and affiliated with the Oromo Cultural Center and Team Oromia Seattle in King County, WA.

Data Sources

Centering Black-Oromo student voices provides an opportunity for researchers and educators to reflect on Black-Oromo students experiences, identities, and resilience in STEAM education.
For the focus group, interview questions were developed to gain insight into the current experiences of my target group and how they view themselves within STEAM. Descriptive questions were designed to facilitate more descriptive and detailed responses (Bhattacharya, 2017). Mini tour questions were designed to assist participants to think about ways they have been resilient in their learning experiences and what they have done to help them navigate STEAM subjects and school in general. Data was collected for one focus group with three students. The focus group was audio recorded, transcribed, and the transcriptions have been coded for themes under the umbrellas of environment, relationships, access to materials, perceptions of self, and imagined selves.

Findings

By centering the experiences of Black-Oromo high school students, the initial results focused on what they shared as critical to their experiences in STEAM education. The influence of positive positioning and a teacher who advocated for them was a salient finding. These experiences influenced their decisions to take on more rigorous STEAM courses and impacted the effort put into their STEAM course.

Scholarly Significance

The significance of this research is that Black-Oromo youth have been understudied in the United States. There is little research found on Black-Oromo or East African students and their identity development in STEAM education.

Author

• Asiya-Bontu Aman Mohammed, University of Washington - Seattle