STEAM Academy as an Affirming Model of Black Education

• In Event: Interrupting Anti-Blackness: Imagining the Possibilities

Abstract

Objectives or purposes:
This presentation details the STEAM Academy as a Black-affirming space in STEM. Founded nine years ago, STEAM Academies are mindful of the racialized mathematics experiences of Black youth.

They intentionally:
- Disrupt the impediments to STEM success (i.e. imposter syndrome and stereotype threat)
- Provide informal, joyful learning opportunities
- Implement culturally-centered near-peer mentorship

Perspective(s) or theoretical framework:
STEM learning opportunities are inequitably distributed and socially stratified along lines of race (Lee, 2003; Lee, 2002; Oakes, Joseph & Muir, 2003; NSF, 2020; Battey, 2013; Oakes, 1985; Oakes, Rogers, Silver, Horng & Goode, 2004; Xie, Fang & Shauman, 2015; Smith, Nelson, Trygstad & Banilower, 2013). STEM is overrun with gatekeeping mechanisms, limitations to rich learning opportunities, and lack of access to culturally affirming STEM experiences that could encourage persistence (US Department of Education, 2018; Paul, 2003).
Black students experience discrimination and are often, “forced to prove that they are capable of achieving in STEM” (McGee, 2016, p. 1627). STEAM Academies are a refuge from this racialization and provide possibilities for Black youth to learn and thrive in STEM.

Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry:
We employ qualitative case study analysis to examine how our techniques (listed below) shape the STEM success and persistence of Black youth in STEAM Academy. Our primary methods for interacting with youth include:
Providing opportunities for students to engage as themselves in rigorous mathematics and engineering problem solving communities.

Drawing on the STEM-based funds of knowledge of students, their families and their communities i.e. West African adinkra designs and the mathematics of hair braiding.

Curating opportunities for students to connect their STEM learning experiences and problem solving skills to social justice challenges facing their own communities.

Connecting youth to a cadre of culturally, ethnically, racially and experientially near-peer mentors for mentoring and role modeling.

Data sources, evidence, objects, or materials:
Post interviews and academic trajectories tell a rich story of how STEAM Academy is shaping the STEM success of participants. Of particular importance, the presentation will highlight the stories of the near-peer mentors (who supported Academy youth) and the impact of the Academy on their STEM trajectories.

Results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view:
Our results demonstrate that participants in STEAM Academy form a social STEM community where STEM engagement and success are normalized and aligned with vs. oppositional to Black identity.

Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work:
We desperately need models that undo the impact of anti-Blackness and provide opportunities for Black youth to thrive in STEM. Far too often STEM learning opportunities for Black youth are anemic and unengaging, are purposely steeped in gatekeeping and are delivered by those with diminished views of the capabilities of Black youth. STEAM Academies are a model of effective STEM engagement.

Author

• Joi A. Spencer, University of California - Riverside