Introduction and Theoretical Frameworks
Our study draws upon several theoretical foundations to investigate and explain the educational experiences of Black students majoring in ME, CpE, and EE: intersectionality, critical race theory, and community cultural wealth theory. Intersectionality explains how gender operates together with race, not independently, to produce multiple, overlapping forms of discrimination and social inequality (Crenshaw, 1989; Collins, 2013). Critical race theory recognizes the unique experiences of marginalized groups and strives to identify the micro- and macro-institutional sources of discrimination and prejudice (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001). Community cultural wealth integrates an asset-based perspective to our analysis of engineering education to assist in the identification of factors that contribute to the success of engineering students (Yosso, 2005).
These three theoretical frameworks are buttressed by our use of Racial Identity Theory, which expands understanding about the significance and meaning associated with students’ sense of group membership. Sellers and colleagues (1997) introduced the Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI), in which they indicated that racial identity refers to the “significance and meaning that African Americans place on race in defining themselves” (p. 19). The development of this model was based on the reality that individuals vary greatly in the extent to which they attach meaning to being a member of the Black racial group. Sellers et al. (1997) posited that there are four components of racial identity:
1. Racial salience: “the extent to which one’s race is a relevant part of one’s self-concept at a particular moment or in a particular situation” (p. 24).
2. Racial centrality: “the extent to which a person normatively defines himself or herself with regard to race” (p. 25).
3. Racial regard: “a person’s affective or evaluative judgment of his or her race in terms of positive-negative valence” (p. 26). This element consists of public regard and private regard.
4. Racial ideology: “composed of the individual’s beliefs, opinions and attitudes with respect to the way he or she feels that the members of the race should act” (p. 27).
The resulting 56-item inventory, the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI), provides a robust measure of Black identity that can be used across multiple contexts.
Research Questions
Our 3-year, mixed-method study of Black students in computer (CpE), electrical (EE) and mechanical engineering (ME) aims to identify institutional policies and practices that contribute to the retention and attrition of Black students in electrical, computer, and mechanical engineering. Our four study institutions include historically Black institutions as well as predominantly white institutions, all of which are in the top 15 nationally in the number of Black engineering graduates. We are using a transformative mixed-methods design to answer the following overarching research questions:
1. Why do Black men and women choose and persist in, or leave, EE, CpE, and ME?
2. What are the academic trajectories of Black men and women in EE, CpE, and ME?
3. In what way do these pathways vary by gender or institution?
4. What institutional policies and practices promote greater retention of Black engineering students?
Methods
This study of Black students in CpE, EE, and ME reports initial results from in-depth interviews at one HBCU and one PWI. We asked students about a variety of topics, including their sense of belonging on campus and in the major, experiences with discrimination, the impact of race on their experiences, and experiences with microaggressions.
For this paper, we draw on two methodological approaches that allowed us to move beyond a traditional, linear approach to in-depth interviews, allowing for more diverse experiences and narratives to emerge. First, we used an identity circle to gain a better understanding of the relative importance to the participants of racial identity, as compared to other identities. The identity circle is a series of three concentric circles, surrounding an “inner core” representing one’s “core self.” Participants were asked to place various identities from a provided list that included demographic, family-related, and school-related identities on the identity circle to reflect the relative importance of the different identities to participants’ current engineering education experiences.
Second, participants were asked to complete an 8-item survey which measured the “centrality” of racial identity as defined by Sellers et al. (1997). Following Enders’ (2018) reflection on the MMRI and Nigrescence Theory, we chose to use the measure of racial centrality as it is generally more stable across situations and best “describes the place race holds in the hierarchy of identities an individual possesses and answers the question ‘How important is race to me in my life?’” (p. 518). Participants completed the MIBI items at the end of the interview to allow us to learn more about the participants’ identification with their racial group, to avoid biasing their responses to the Identity Circle, and to avoid potentially creating a stereotype threat at the beginning of the interview.
This paper focuses on the results of the MIBI survey and the identity circles to investigate whether these measures were correlated. Recognizing that Blackness (race) is not monolithic, we were interested in knowing the extent to which the participants considered their Black identity as central to their engineering education experiences. Combined with discussion about the identity circles, this approach allowed us to learn more about how other elements of identity may shape the participants’ educational experiences and outcomes and revealed possible differences in how participants may enact various points of their identity.
Findings
For this paper, we focus on the results for five HBCU students and 27 PWI students who completed the MIBI and identity circle. The overall MIBI average for HBCU students was 43 (out of a possible 56) and the overall MIBI scores ranged from 36-51; the overall MIBI average for the PWI students was 40; the overall MIBI scores for the PWI students ranged from 24-51. Twenty-one students placed race in the inner circle, indicating that race was central to their identity. Five placed race on the second, middle circle; three placed race on the third, outer circle. Three students did not place race on their identity circle.
For our cross-case qualitative analysis, we will choose cases across the two institutions that represent low, medium and high MIBI scores and different ranges of centrality of race to identity, as expressed in the identity circles. Our final analysis will include descriptive quotes from these in-depth interviews to further elucidate the significance of race to the participants’ identities and engineering education experiences.
The results will provide context for our larger study of a total of 60 Black students in engineering at our four study institutions. Theoretically, our study represents a new application of Racial Identity Theory and will provide a unique opportunity to apply the theories of intersectionality, critical race theory, and community cultural wealth theory. Methodologically, our findings provide insights into the utility of combining our two qualitative research tools, the MIBI centrality scale and the identity circle, to better understand the influence of race on the education experiences of Black students in engineering.
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Queering Virtual Reality
In this chapter, we investigate how innovations in STEM, such as Virtual
Reality (VR) and 3D Sculpting, can support the development of critical
literacies about gender and sexuality. Our work arises from the concern
that the assumed \naturalness" of male/female binary categories in biol-
ogy is often at the center of the queer, trans, and intersex panics in public
education. Echoing sociologists and critical scholars of gender and sexu-
ality, we posit that transgender and queer identities should be positioned
as realms of playful, active inquiry. Further, we investigate how new
forms of computational representational infrastructures can be leveraged
to support productive and playful experiences of inquiry about gender and
sexuality. We present a retrospective analysis of a design group meeting of
a small group of friends in their early thirties with gender nonconforming
and queer identities and life histories. The group interacted in VR-based
environments, where they engaged in two di erent forms of construction-
ist learning experiences: creating 3D sculptures of personally meaningful
objects, and re-creating their VR avatars in VR social media. Our analysis
illustrates how such experiences can be productively analyzed using so-
cial constructivist perspectives that situate knowing as boundary play and
gured worlds, and the roles that play and friendship have in supporting
deep and critical engagement with complex narratives and marginalized
experiences of gender and sexuality.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1842358
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10287344
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Critical, Transdisciplinary and Embodied Approaches in STEM Education
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Background Computational approaches in STEM foster creative extrapolations of ideas that extend the bounds of human perception, processing, and sense-making. Inviting teachers to explore computational approaches in STEM presents opportunities to examine shifting relationships to inquiry that support transdisciplinary learning in their classrooms. Similarly, play has long been acknowledged as activity that supports learners in taking risks, exploring the boundaries and configurations of existing structures, and imagining new possibilities. Yet, play is often overlooked as a crucial element of STEM learning, particularly for adolescents and adults. In this paper, we explore
computational play as an activity that supports teachers’ transdisciplinary STEM learning. We build from an expansive notion of computational activity that involves jointly co-constructing and co-exploring rule-based systems in conversation with materials, collaborators, and communities to work towards jointly defined goals. We situate computation within STEM-rich making as a playful context for engaging in authentic, creative inquiry. Our research asksWhat are the characteristics of play and computation within computational play? And, in what ways does computational play contribute to teachers’ transdisciplinary learning? Results Teachers from grades 3–12 participated in a professional learning program that centered playful explorations of materials and tools using computational approaches: making objects based on rules that produce emergent behaviors and iterating on those rules to observe the effects on how the materials behaved. Using a case study and descriptions of the characteristics of computational play, our results show how familiarity of materials and the context of play encouraged teachers to engage in transdisciplinary inquiry, to ask questions about how materials behave, and to renegotiate their own relationships to disciplinary learning as they reflected on their work.
Conclusions We argue computational play is a space of wonderment where iterative conversations with materials create opportunities for learners to author forms of transdisciplinary learning. Our results show how teachers and students can learn together in computational play, and we conclude this work can contribute to ongoing efforts in the design of professional and transdisciplinary learning environments focused on the intersections of materiality, play, and computation.
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Negative and often unconscious beliefs about marginalised groups, including women and people of colour, sometimes manifest in discriminatory and degrading slights called microaggressions. Since most often microaggressions are in the form of subtle actions, unobtrusive comments, or humorous gestures, they are frequently overlooked as innocent and harmless, specifically to bystanders. However, their adverse effects on those on the receiving end are anything but innocuous, even if perpetrators are utterly unaware of their harmful comments or behaviours. Minorities and marginalized individuals often find microaggressions more harmful than blatant racism and discrimination. Six hundred and eleven STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) faculty from ten USA universities completed an online survey in the spring of 2021, of which 39% self-identified as Underrepresented Minority, URM, faculty. This study revealed that on average, URM women were 50% more susceptible to gender microaggressions, which correlated negatively with autonomy (having choice) and competence (being capable and effective), and positively with amotivation (lack of motivation). Case in point, 38% of them believed their opinions were overlooked in a group discussion because of their gender. Women with intersecting identities, such as women of colour, experienced both forms of gender and racial/ethnic microaggressions. They have experienced being ignored at work, being treated differently, and their opinion being overlooked based on their gender and/or their race/ethnicity. While detecting bias and microaggression and acknowledging their occurrence is crucial, taking deliberate and precise actions to disrupt and prevent them from re-occurring is even more pivotal. By realising the prevalence of discrimination and microaggressions towards underrepresented minority female faculty, and sharing insights into the complex and overarching race, ethnic, and gender relations among other social constructs, this study deepens our understanding of the challenges and barriers that this group has to grapple with. By adopting and creating effective institutional policies and professional training in support of diversity, inclusion, and cultural competency we can improve the experiences of URM faculty and positively impact their motivation and productivity.more » « less
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29489-2_17
