Exploring the Impact of a Culturally Responsive Initiative on the STEM Identity Development of Women of Color

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

Abstract

Women of color (WoC) all too often experience race- and gender-based marginalization within STEM fields, which generally privilege white, masculine, and Western cultures and norms (Ong, Smith, & Ko, 2018). Encounters with microaggression, experiences of hypervisibility, invisibility, and “chilly” learning environments for example (Authors, 2019; Carlone & Johnson, 2007) oftentimes lead to WoC questioning their belongingness and identity alignment within STEM fields. It is essential for educators to mitigate these experiences to counter these negative impacts on WoC’s disciplinary identity development and persistence within STEM environments. To work towards this aim, recent research (e.g. Bell, Van Horne, & Cheng, 2017; Ong, Smith, & Ko, 2018) has demonstrated the utility of constructing environments in ways that are culturally responsive and that holistically support learning, participation, and persistence within STEM disciplinary practices. To expand on these works, this study focuses on further exploring STEM WoCs’ experiences within a culturally responsive multi-generational mentorship initiative that is designed to promote WoC persistence in STEM.
The initiative utilizes a multi-theoretical approach to inform four ways in which participants are supported. First, to foster the sense of belongingness in STEM, we foreground the relational-cultural model of mentorship (Lewis & Olshansky, 2017) by building a multi-generational STEM community with identity sharing role-models (i.e. WoC high schoolers, undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals). Second, using Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) we facilitate participants’ career development and exploration. Third, Carlone and Johnsons’ (2007) tripartite Science Identity Framework is used to position participants’ as agents of change through STEM. Finally, we use Seligman’s multidimensional well-being theory (Seligman, 2011) to create intentional spaces where students can gain support and validation which counter the emotional toll resulting from navigating marginalizing STEM environments.
We present a case study of WoC in STEM who participated in fourteen of the initiative’s 75-minute sessions of STEM based discussions and real-world applications over the course of two academic semesters. After each session, participants filled out a reflection questionnaire that asked the following open-ended questions: 1) What aspect of today’s class most resonated with you? 2) How does the above-mentioned aspect influence your intentions to persist in your STEM academic major? Constant comparative analysis (Glaser, 1965) was used to code participants’ reflection questionnaires.
The following results were consistent across participants’ reflections. 1) Exposure to career success strategies helped participants increase their career certainty and strengthen the connection they had with their discipline through self-awareness. 2) Being in a supportive community where participants could share their experiences as WoC in STEM, and being individually recognized for their unique strengths contributed to scholars developing strategies to persist in STEM. 3) Collaborative learning experiences where participants could apply their disciplinary knowledge to authentic problems that impacted their local communities fostered a greater sense of social justice awareness and involvement. 4) Prioritizing participants’ mental well-being increased career success strategies. Overall, these findings provide insight into the positive experiences WoC can have through transformative and holistically supportive STEM environments.

Author

• Bria Nichole Davis, Indiana University - Bloomington