Creating Counterspaces: Empowering Latina Girls in STEM through Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and Community Cultural Wealth

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 7:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Cultivating Resistance and Belonging: Latinx Educational Pathways, Counterspaces, and Cultural Survival

Abstract

This qualitative study examines how curriculum developers intentionally designed the Girls’ Community Garden (GCG) STEM program as a counterspace for 5th and 6th grade Latina girls. Using pláticas, a method rooted in Chicana/Latina feminist thought, we highlight the stories of four key developers, illustrating how they navigated institutional barriers and centered cultural strengths to inform the GCG curriculum. Findings show that the curriculum centers cultural identity, affirms lived experiences, and counters deficit narratives while also grappling with sustainability, access, and institutional constraints. This study contributes to equity-driven curriculum research and highlights how counterspaces can foster STEM identities through culturally responsive practices.

Authors

• Tadria Cardenas, University of California - Davis

• Margarita Jimenez-Silva, University of California - Davis

• Mayra Nuñez Martinez, University of California - Davis

• Ashley Coughlin, Arizona State University