The National Science Foundation (2019) points to Black, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Island peoples as underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) college majors and professional pathways. This underrepresentation results from an interplay of representation and process, meaning that it in part results from STEM opportunities and programming that do not reflect the experiences of racially and ethnically diverse people, offer insight into the needs of diverse communities, nor address barriers that prevent
participation (McGee 2020). One way that institutions of higher education (IHEs) and community organizations try to address inequities in STEM is through pre-college programs aimed at supporting racially and ethnically minoritized (REM) youth. These pre-college STEM programs (PCSPs) work to foster increased STEM awareness and support students in achieving academic milestones that make college pathways more viable. Out-of-school learning (OSL) and informal STEM programming have the potential to fill gaps in STEM K–12 education, as well as complement and support connections with K–12 STEM by offering REM youth opportunities to connect STEM with their lives and influence both their capabilities and dispositions toward STEM (Kitchen et al. 2018). Studies have pointed to positive connections between OSL STEM participation and outcomes such as high school graduation, sustained interest in STEM, and matriculation to university (Penuel, Clark, and Bevan 2016). PCSPs may also support IHE’s development of infrastructure to increase admissions of REM students into college STEM programs. For PCSPs to be an effective element of reducing inequities in STEM, they must successfully engage with and recruit REM youth to participate. In this article, we focus on the recruitment of REM youth into STEM OSL to better understand what is effective for REM youth and their families, as well as highlight connections between OSL and in-school STEM opportunities. Our goals in this work are to (1) identify program practices with the aim of broadening STEM educational and career pathways for REM youth and (2) support strengthened pathways between STEM in K–12 schools and IHEs.
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Understanding STEM‐focused elementary schools: Case study of Walter Bracken STEAM Academy
Increasingly, STEM focused high schools are used prepare students for college STEM majors and launch them into STEM careers. Yet a new focus on STEM education at the elementary levels suggests that the importance of STEM education is much broader than a preparation for workforce needs in high school or college. This paper describes a case study designed to articulate the mission and design of an effective and nationally recognized STEM‐focused elementary school. As described through the six most impactful components of STEM‐focused elementary school design at Walter Bracken STEAM Academy, the case study emphasizes the school's strong and inclusive school leadership, with staff organized into grade level groups empowered to innovate and honing their teaching practices. External partnerships are leveraged to broaden student learning opportunities. Students at Bracken engage in active learning opportunities and multidisciplinary lessons where STEM is used as a way of thinking and as a way to coherently combine content into active learning opportunities that are engaging for learners. By organizing the structural components of an exemplary STEM‐focused elementary school, we hope to deliver actionable reforms for elementary schools wanting to increase their STEM‐focused offerings.
more » « less- PAR ID:
- 10457534
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- School Science and Mathematics
- Volume:
- 119
- Issue:
- 8
- ISSN:
- 0036-6803
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 446-456
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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