Exploring Barriers: Latina Students, Science Education, and the Impact of School Culture on Identity

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 12:40 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Affirming Cultural Responsiveness in the Growing Age of Anti–Cultural Responsiveness (Table 3)

Abstract

The Latinx student population in U.S. urban schools is increasing, pointing out an educational deficiency in understanding their population's diverse culture and identity. This study explores the relationship between Latinx girls' middle schoolers' identity formation, the school environment, and science learning. Drawing on postcolonial feminism, which examines intersecting sources of oppression in women of color's experiences, being attentive to dynamics of power and knowledge. This study utilized qualitative methods for research and analysis of the data. Findings in this study affirm the need to change knowledge construction in the classroom to an equitable one and that learning from Latinx girls would open opportunities to contextualize science learning and re-create the classroom as a meaningful learning space.

Author

• Jaquelina Schmittlen-Garbocci, University of Tennessee