Cultures of STEM and Schooling: Figured Worlds, Positioning, and Authoring in Global Context

• In Event: STEM Policies and Pathways in Two Cities Differently Positioned in the Global Economy

Abstract

Figured worlds are constrained by opportunities and social positions available to particular people, e.g., as Black women, as Latinas. But people must “answer” or respond to opportunities and positionings; answering is referred to as the “space of authoring” (Holland et al., 1998 after Bakhtin). Although answers must be given, they are not predetermined, so the space of authoring can be open-ended and include individual variations and improvisations, some of which may be taken up and stabilized into new “figured worlds of possibility,” perhaps leading to social change. In Fordham’s ethnography of a Black high school (1996), “good students” were figuratively defined as those who made good grades and were active and engaged in school, yet the students’ positional identities were as Blacks, and they held figured identities from family and community that did not necessarily value conformist behavior in school. In this nexus, students had to work out strategies for how “to be,” both in and out of school. Some of the smart boys became class clowns and some of the smart girls never spoke in class, allowing them to hide their identities as good students from peers and (sometimes) improving their chances of attending college.

Using this framework, we find that most high school boys who announce an interest in STEM present math and science opportunities as “easy” for them, as subjects in which it does not take much effort to complete the work. They compare themselves to other students who struggle in these subjects. Girls who say they are interested in STEM present math and science as opportunities for them to show off “good grades” (A’s) or exemplary prowess. They seem to expect to work hard in these subjects, but if by doing so, they receive acknowledgement of extraordinary achievement, they identify themselves as likely to pursue STEM. For girls, the marker for continuing in STEM is external recognition of high accomplishment; for boys, the marker is completing the work easily, regardless of grade. These ways of authoring STEM identity make both groups susceptible to abandoning math or science when they have to work hard (the boys) or when they make less than an A (the girls).

Regarding race/ethnicity, we find high-achieving Blacks (in Buffalo) and Latinos/as (in Denver) respond differently to the promise that success in school will benefit them. High-achieving Blacks are not convinced of the value of school success and discouraged about future prospects. High-achieving Latinos/as in Denver believe in the promise of school success. We argue that actual choices students make regarding STEM and college take place in and must account for these different cultural contexts.

Our results have implications for the students and others we are working with. Sharing and discussing these results is one way to expand and perhaps change their discourse and thinking about opportunities and choices. Next steps are to engage this conversation with them, following the model of translational research, and at the same time, continue to study their opportunities, figured worlds, responses and choices through high school.

Authors

• Margaret A. Eisenhart, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Jarrod Stover Hanson, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Ruth Lopez, University of Colorado - Boulder