Student-Centered Approaches to Recruitment and Retention of Diverse STEM Teachers: CRT + Posthuman Interventions

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Friday 7:45 am
  In Poster Session: Teacher Pipelines, Recruitment, and Pathways

Abstract

This paper presents findings of NSF funded research on retaining demographically diverse students in preservice STEM educator pathways. The paper questions the “leaky pipelines” heuristic found in many STEM education equity conversations. As an alternative, the project uses an ecological metaphor, which redirects attention to the entire educational system as the cause of attrition and looks at pre-service teachers as being possessed of knowledge about how to navigate these ecosystems. The study employs an innovative methodology that combines two distinct, but we believe complementary, methodological literatures: 1) new materialist philosophy of science, and; 2) critical race theory. Three case studies are presented that illustrate the variety of ways students navigate the social ecologies of STEM majors and build support networks.

Authors

• Jerry L. Rosiek, University of Oregon

• Tristan G. Gleason, California State Polytechnic University - Humboldt

• Sage Hatch, University of Oregon

• Bradley Sullivan, University of Oregon

• Presence O'Neal, University of Oregon