STEMming From a Desire to Help: The Relationship Between Critical Consciousness Development and STEM Interest

• In Event: Searching for Identity: (Re)Imagining Culturally Relevant and Equitable STEM Practices and Counter-Spaces

Abstract

Efforts have been made to improve the recruitment and retention of minoritized students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Still, minoritized student populations remain underrepresented across STEM disciplines. Researchers and practitioners have been attempting to address this challenge through a variety of approaches including supportive campus climates, undergraduate research opportunities, new approaches to counseling and workforce partnerships (Bicer et al., 2020; Carpi et al., 2017; Hernandez et al., 2013; Packard, 2015). What has been less explored, and is the focus of this paper, is the relationship between students’ critical consciousness development and STEM interest and persistence. This paper reports on one aspect of findings from interviews of 100+ first- and second-year community college students that explored participants’ educational and career decision-making and development. Key findings from this work support the argument that minoritized students often have a critical consciousness, or motivation to change one’s social reality and help others by addressing socio-political inequalities through community action (Diemer, 2009; Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002; Watts & Flanagan, 2007). This was the case for approximately half of the participants in this study who, after experiencing myriad life challenges and sociopolitical barriers, wanted to pursue a career through which they could help others, make an impact, and that had relevance to their lives and the lives of their family. For Latinx participants in the study, helping others, and making an impact were the most commonly reported factors that influenced their career development and decision-making. However, the findings also revealed that these participants, whose critical consciousness influenced their major and career decision-making, rarely chose STEM pathways. This finding raises the question, would having more knowledge about how to make an impact, address sociopolitical barriers, and help others through STEM careers encourage minoritized students to explore their options within these fields? This paper critically examines this question and offers potential ways forward for researching, and addressing in practice, the relationship between critical consciousness development and STEM interest and persistence.

Author

• Rebecca Colina Neri, Indiana University Bloomington