Toward Equity-Centered STEAM Talent Development: Reconceptualizing Opportunities for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 9:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Transformative Curricula and Student Empowerment

Abstract

This conceptual paper critically reexamined the Talent Development Mega-Model (TDMM) through an equity lens focused on culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students in STEAM. Drawing on culturally sustaining pedagogy, community cultural wealth, and critical race theory, it highlighted systemic barriers that impeded CLD students’ progression from potential to achievement. Using a narrative reflection centered on resilient dandelions, the paper metaphorically explored how educational systems mislabelled difference as deficit, uprooting essential assets for growth. Synthesizing multidisciplinary research, it proposed justice-oriented strategies to identify and nurture diverse talent. By reframing “weeds” as strengths, the study challenged dominant norms and offered an inclusive vision of talent development grounded in care, cultural affirmation, and possibility, urging reconsideration of who and what was valued in education.

Author

• Emma H. Cho, University of Washington