Utilizing Multimodal Counterstories to Illuminate Humanizing Approaches in K–12 STEM Classrooms

• In Event: Reimagining Methodological Approaches for Disrupting Anti-Blackness in STEM Education

Abstract

In our current sociopolitical climate amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a heightened focus on racial inequities and anti-Black racism in K-12 STEM education. While public-facing and scholarly audiences are concerned with “learning loss” (Dickler, 2021; Dorn et al., 2020; Kuhfeld et al., 2020), others point out how these conversations ignore the need for systemic transformation and perpetuate deficit narratives (Donaldson & Richman, 2021; McKinney de Royston & Vossoughi, 2021). We must counteract these narratives by shifting our attention to asset-based frames of what Black learners know and the learning environments where that knowledge is valued. In doing so, we center our “commitment to epistemic heterogeneity” (Bang & Vossoughi, 2016, p. 175) and Black learners’ success. Previously, we discussed how educators disrupt anti-Blackness with young children in STEM classrooms (Madkins & K. Morton, 2021; Madkins & Nxumalo, 2021). Building upon this work, we describe how researchers might use a Multimodal Counterstories Approach (MCA) to illuminate K-12 STEM learning environments where Black learners thrive.

Authors

• Tia C. Madkins, The University of Texas at Austin

• Karisma Morton, University of North Texas