Underrepresented Minority Adolescents in Out-of-School Contexts: A New STEM Identity Development Model

• In Event: Breaking Down Barriers and Fostering Identity and Critical Consciousness in Marginalized Youth

Proposal

Underrepresented Minority Adolescents in Out-of-School Contexts: A New STEM Identity Development Model

Introduction

While there is growing attention and research towards STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) related identity for adolescents, there is yet a STEM identity framework that specifically captures the STEM identity development in out-of-school contexts for underrepresented minorities (i.e., Black, Latinx, Indigenous populations) in the United States. Yet, such a framework is needed to better support URM adolescents in their STEM identity and ultimately help address the racial disparities in degree attainment and STEM workforce representation. This paper provides a new STEM identity framework that captures the critical STEM identity moments of underrepresented minority adolescents in out-of-school contexts.

Theoretical Perspectives

Our STEM identity development model incorporates three theoretical perspectives: identity, intersectionality, and context. In our model, identity is conceptualized as a process and relational entity (Weedon, 2004) and aligns with Erikson’s (1959) fifth stage of identity development, role confusion, which is when URM adolescents begin to explore where they belong in STEM. Intersectionality captures the intersection of people’s identity categories and the intersection of individual and institutional factors (Crenshaw, 1991; Pugach et al., 2019). Using an intersectionality lens enables us to analyze how URM adolescents’ multiple identities situate and interact with the macro social structures and exposes the multiple layers of oppression that they experience. For context, our framework borrows from the bioecological framework, which posits that children’s development is influenced by proximal processes, a series of regular interactions that the child has with individuals, which occurs in a series of interconnected contexts (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006).

Existing STEM Identity Developmental Frameworks

Several conceptual models explore URM students’ STEM identity development process and the factors that contribute to their STEM identity construction and negotiation. Herrera et al. (2012) proposed a theoretical model for redefining STEM through identity to reflect the impact of social structures on the STEM identity development of URM graduate students. Other STEM identity developmental frameworks incorporate intersectionality (Rodriguez et al., 2017) and context (Collins, 2018) for URM students. However, these models either neglect the critical moments in adolescents' STEM identity development or overlook the role of out-of-school contexts in shaping and transforming their STEM identity. Based on the identity-Frame model of youth by Pattison et al. (2020), we developed a new model that fills this research gap.

New STEM Identity Development Model

Our STEM identity development model expands on previous models by focusing on the URM adolescent US population and on out-of-school contexts. In our model, URM adolescents' identification with STEM changes when they experience STEM dissonance/consonance in critical moments outside school.

Temporality and Historicity

Historicity and temporality refer to different time scales that influence the STEM identity development of URM adolescents. Temporality refers to the everyday interactions (e.g., racial microaggressionss) that influence URM adolescents’ STEM identity. Historicity focuses on norms (e.g., systematic racism) and changing expectations that influence URM adolescents' STEM identity development across generations. Both temporal and historical factors can impact one’s health, well-being, as well as the development and STEM identity of URM adolescents throughout their lives (Dickerson et al., 2019; McGee, 2020).

Out-of-School Context

Formal school context plays a crucial role in adolescents’ identity formation by providing opportunities for social relationships and norms among the school community members. As a necessary partner to formal school systems, out-of-school context may stimulate the STEM interest and achievement for URM adolescents (National Research Council, 2015). The out-of-school context in our model contains four different levels of context: societal (i.e., underlying norms and patterns), community (e.g., community assets), family (e.g., parent education, sibling gender composition), and program (e.g., organizational culture, staff, learning spaces).

STEM & Other Social Identities

STEM identity refers to how an individual views oneself as a science learner and one who has knowledge of, uses, and contributes to science (Singer et al., 2020). Furthermore, one’s STEM identity is based upon one’s competence and performance in STEM as well as recognition by meaningful individuals about one’s STEM identity (Carlone & Johnson, 2007). While URM adolescents possess multiple social identities, the two most salient identities related to URM adolescents’ STEM identity development are racial/ethnic identity (e.g., one’s group membership in a racial or ethnic group) and gender identity (e.g., one’s internal sense of their gender).

Critical Moments

Critical moments refers to particular events that can influence URM adolescent’s STEM identity development, which are composed of three components: people, place, and event. People refers to interactions with individuals or groups that can influence one’s confidence and sense of belonging around STEM (e.g., STEM program mentor). Place focuses on a specific location (e.g., robotics conference) and its context (e.g., organizational culture). Event refers to specific STEM related experiences (e.g., coding an application) that may influence a student’s STEM identity.

STEM Identity Dissonance & Consonance

In this model, adolescents’ STEM identity has two layers: personal STEM identity (e.g. “I see myself as a STEM person”) and social STEM identity (e.g. “Others see me as a STEM person”). Both layers are influenced by social, emotional, and psychological factors in multilevel contexts that create critical identity moments. During critical moments, URM adolescents can experience STEM identity consonance or dissonance (Byram, 2020), which is when adolescents feel that their personal STEM identity is consistent or inconsistent with their social STEM identity, respectively.

Significance

While STEM identity dissonance continues to be a major contributor to the racial disparity in STEM degree attainment and workforce representation in the STEM fields, there is not an established conceptual model regarding STEM identity development for URM. With our framework, we hope to represent the STEM identity development of this demographic. By better understanding STEM identity development for URMs, this framework will help assist historically underrepresented adolescents pursue STEM opportunities, reduce the racial discrepancy in the STEM fields, and ultimately help change and transform our society for the better.

Authors

• Jeffrey Yo, UCLA

• Hui Huang, UCLA