Speculative Storytelling as a Methodology for Supporting Ethical Socio-Ecological Decision Making in an Undergraduate STEM Course (Poster 1)

• In Event: Speculative Science Education Toward Socioecological Care

Abstract

Introduction
Humans are part of natural systems, yet access to healthy ecosystems is not equally distributed. Practices such as redlining exemplify how racialized socio-technical and socio-ecological decision making in the designed world have impacted humans and more-than-humans, with disproportionate impacts on Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color (Islam & Winkel, 2017; Riley, 2008; Schell, et al, 2020). A challenge in designing education for ecological and social justice is moving beyond human-dominant, solution-focused models of design to center hope and thriving in racially and ecologically just futures (Authors, 2020).
In this work we describe how we engaged preservice science teachers and undergraduate STEM majors in critical speculative design and storytelling through a “science for elementary teachers” course. The course was co-designed to integrate NGSS, racial equity, and contemporary scientific tools and practices to support critical STEM teaching and learning. Speculative design and storytelling critique the current state and involve pushing on current inequities, scientific and engineering practices, and dominant ways of knowing and being to imagine new possibilities for the future (Brown, 2017; Dunne & Raby, 2013; Escobar, 2018; Costanza-Chock, 2020) (see Table 1). ​In this work, we argue that critical speculative design and storytelling are not only practices for imagining more just and sustainable futures, but are mediums for creating a more just present by centering cultural heterogeneity, racial equity, and ecological thriving throughout the design process.

Methods & Framing
This study takes place in one public university in the Pacific Northwest where students designed and programmed robotics dioramas to tell stories of more just futures centering content from the course including health equity, ethical engineering, and environmental justice. We used open coding and grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) of classroom video and transcripts, artifacts, interviews, and exit tickets to understand how students used practices of critical speculation to move towards more expansive and justice-centered framings in and of STEM (NASEM, 2021, Philip & Azevedo, 2017).

Results
Our findings show that through critical speculative design and storytelling, students not only found narratives of hope and possibility for more socially and ecologically just futures, but also described more expansive notions of how they see science and engineering as fields of study. Students’ stories addressed power and historicity through participatory design frameworks, and honored heterogeneity as an emergent property of justice-centered worldmaking in which humans are a part of natural systems. One preservice educator shared, “A powerful moment in my learning was seeing the dangers of single stories. It is important that we consider everyone's voice when creating a design.” Further, a computer science major reflected on the power of speculation in his field, “I knew that I had to be careful about causing harm through computer science, but I never thought about how I could use computer science to do good.”

Significance
Here we show the value of speculation for transforming the present to pave the pathway to more just futures in science and engineering, and that STEM courses centering racial equity can and should be foundational to science teacher education and preparation.

Authors

• Veronica Cassone McGowan, University of Washington - Bothell

• Symone Gyles, University of California - Irvine

• Bryan White, University of Washington - Bothell

• Elizabeth Starks, University of Washington - Bothell

• Megan Bang, Northwestern University

• Carrie T. Tzou, University of Washington - Bothell