Accessing STEM Curricula: Experiences of Underrepresented Groups in a Secondary Chemistry Classroom

• In Event: A Call to Action for a Changing World: The Positionality of Accountable STEM Researchers

Abstract

Objectives
The STEM community embodies a white and masculine culture that permeates into K-12 science education curriculum (Finkel, 2017; Mocombe, 2018; National Science Board, 2018; Rawson & McCool, 2014). The majority of STEM teachers in K-12 public secondary education are white (Nguyen & Redding, 2018). The whiteness of K-12 secondary education promotes an oppressive space that underrepresented students must navigate in addition to learning science (Carlone & Johnson, 2007). The racial mismatch between students of color and their white science teachers can also be a hindrance to learning unless white teachers actively implement culturally relevant practices in their classrooms (Ladson-Billings, 2005; Patchen & Cox-Peterson, 2008). This study examines the impact of the perspective and positionality of a White woman in STEM on her predominantly Black students in a large school district in the Southeastern United States.

Perspectives/Frameworks
Ladson-Billings’ Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) (2005) will frame this study. The researcher employs the CRP framework to explore how her perspective and positionality created an inclusive learning environment that capitalized on individual student strengths and disrupted existing power hierarchies in STEM. The researcher taught high school chemistry for three years to predominantly Black students.

Methods/Modes of Inquiry and Data
The researcher created a short survey containing questions framed around four of the seven tenets of CRP: 1) Communication of high expectations, 2) Learning within the context of culture, 3) Culturally mediated instruction, and 4) Teacher as facilitator (Ladson-Billings, 2005). The researcher distributed the survey electronically to participants (n = 20) via email one to two years after teaching their Chemistry course. The researcher analyzed the surveys of students who identify as Black (n = 18) and Latinx (n = 2) and who attended public school in a large, metropolitan school district in the Southeastern United States.

Results
Preliminary data show that students who have supportive and motivating teachers are more likely to respond positively to the science classroom. The CRP tenets of communication of high expectations, culturally mediated instruction, and teacher as facilitator were most common in the teacher’s chemistry classroom. Students reported that they are pursuing careers in STEM through various modes (i.e. higher education, full or part time work, and the military) due to their experiences in the teacher’s chemistry class. However, most students indicated that the teacher often focused on students behavior and her classroom was only partly managed. This data aligns with research stating that white educators tend to perpetuate systems of oppression by focusing on management and behavior when teaching students of color (Emdin, 2016; Oakes, 1985). This work is significant because it shows which tenets of CRP are most influential in a science classroom and what behaviors white teachers should follow to challenge systems of oppression.

Conference Connection
This paper relates to the conference theme of accepting responsibility by holding white science educators accountable when they teach predominantly Black students.

Author

• Kristina Kramarczuk, University of Maryland - College Park