Conceptions of wayfinding: decolonizing science education in pursuit of Native American success

Abstract

The purpose of this forum paper is to address how conceptions of “success” in STEM education are culturally informed, and how supporting students in achieving success goes beyond normative definitions of academic achievement. Furthermore, the imposition of success from the dominant culture may be limited in scope with culturally diverse views of success. The research put forth by Page-Reeves, Marin, Moffett, DeerInWater and Medin (Cult Stud Sci Educ, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-017-9849-6) sheds light into the ways that some Native American STEM professionals have traversed through their educational and professional STEM journeys to achieve success in a form of “wayfinding.” This process assisted them to remain culturally grounded and navigable in a largely western-dominated educational paradigm that is more or less culturally disparate from that of their home communities. In this response to the concept of wayfinding, we explore how notions of success are defined within the North American education system and discuss how wayfinding may be considered in a multicultural approach to STEM education.