Abstract
Abstract In the U.S. there are steady efforts by governmental and philanthropic organizations to increase the representation of students of colour in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). After years of mixed results, researchers and educators have started to question one size fits all notions of broadening participation. An increasing number of projects are challenging universalist assumptions by enrolling the expertise of culturally situated communities of practice in STEM lessons and the educational technologies that support them. While this research shows promising results for improving young people’s interest and performance in STEM, there has been little research on how these lessons and technologies might also benefit the communities whose expertise were originally enrolled. This paper details the design of educational technologies that bridge STEM and African American cosmetology. We report on a mixed-methods research project, conducted with a group of predominantly African American cosmetologists. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected to study their attitudes toward STEM before and after working with the technologies. Our results suggest positive changes in the cosmetologists’ attitudes. We end with a critical discussion about respecting the knowledge systems of underrepresented communities of practice in educational technology research and development.
Highlights
Despite decades of investments from governmental agencies (e.g. National Science Foundation) and philanthropic organizations (e.g., The Gates Foundation) to broaden the participation of people of colour pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and entering the workforce, underrepresentation continues to be a persistent issue in the United States (NSB, 2018)
As a communities of practice” (CoP), how do cosmetologists view the use of their STEM expertise in educational technology design?
While positive changes were seen in each of the close-ended questions on the post-survey, their pre-survey answers indicate an overall positive view of STEM and its relationship to cosmetology. This is supported by pre-post survey answers to one of the open-ended questions: “please describe how you imagine cosmetology can contribute to improving science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.”
Summary
Despite decades of investments from governmental agencies (e.g. National Science Foundation) and philanthropic organizations (e.g., The Gates Foundation) to broaden the participation of people of colour pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and entering the workforce, underrepresentation continues to be a persistent issue in the United States (NSB, 2018). One source of underrepresentation in STEM is shallow pedagogic and curricular offerings This is especially true for computers in education; schools often have computing technologies available but without rigorous (i.e., deep) implementation (e.g., Margolis et al, 2008). During the summer of 2017 a diverse but predominantly White team of social scientists and technologists at a university in Upstate New York hired three young women, two were African American and one multiracial (ages 14-16), as high school interns to help explore intersections between cosmetology and STEM. They were to identify intersections that could motivate educational technology design. CSDTs seek to place indigenous and vernacular cultural practices and designs – “dynamic system[s] of social values, cognitive codes, behavioural standards, worldviews, and beliefs used to give order and meaning to our lives as well as the lives of others” (Gay, 2018; p.6) – at the centre of educational technology design and implementation
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