Influences on STEM Education and Career Development Through Black and Latinx Voices and Mapping

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

Influences on STEM Education and Career Development Through Black and Latinx Voices and Mapping

The current study examines the education and work journeys of Black and Latinx adults who participated in in a NASA-sponsored science research program while in their youth. The project examines the adult participants’ perceptions of experiences, influences and challenges in their work and education journeys in and outside of STEM from youth into middle adulthood, and examines the role of the science research program in their work and education development.
The design of this study emphasizes the participants’ stories and their implications for systemic issues through a qualitative approach shaped by the psychology of work theory (Blustein, 2006), critical race framework (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995) and cultural community wealth theory (Yosso, 2005). Participants visually mapped their education and work journeys (Annamma, 2018) and participated in interviews about their journeys and their experience in the youth science program. Data was collected from twenty-four Black and Latinx participants, and includes participants working in STEM and other fields.
Emerging findings will be highlighted, including themes regarding the people and experiences that influenced participants across their education and work, and the benefits of the science research program such as changes in self concept, and the development of highly marketable STEM skills. Potential emerging themes of the influences on work and education journeys included teachers, families, mentors in education and work, finances, and sense of purpose.

Author

• Courtnye R. Lloyd, Boston College