- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 2050515
- First Name Sharlonne
- Last Name Smith
- Institution Dalton State Collge
- Role/Position Co-PI
- Proposal Type Lightning Talk
- Workshop Category Track 1: Scholarships and Stipends
- Workshop Disciplines Audience STEM Education (general)
- Target Audience Co-PIs, Evaluators/Education Researchers, Noyce Master Teachers, Noyce Teaching Fellows, Other Faculty/Staff, Project PIs, Undergraduate and/or Graduate Noyce Scholars
- Topics Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, STEM content and/or convergent skills development
Proposal
Equity in STEM education and careers has been an academic, social, and political issue for educators, and researchers alike. Concerns regarding underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) participation, and inadequate academic preparation are extensive and garner continuous attention (Mau et al, 2020). Many factors contribute to the exclusion of marginalized students including inequity in academic preparation, a small number of role models/mentors, students’ absence of self-efficacy, students’ lack of self-identity in STEM, and a lack of real-life connections to STEM curriculum. Underrepresented students grapple with the process of connecting personal identities to STEM identities (how you think of yourself as a scientist, technology user, engineer, or mathematician) and whether they can identify as a part of the STEM field. All these factors tend to have a considerable impact on students selecting majors in higher education and career choices (Birney, & McNamara, 2022). To assist in resolving dwindling numbers of underrepresented groups in STEM, intentional efforts to expose STEM preservice teachers to equitable STEM curricula must take place in educator preparation programs and specific questions must be addressed/discussed. * In this presentation, underrepresented students are defined as (students of color, students with language barriers, and female students).
