Examining Blackness in Postsecondary STEM Education through a Multidimensional-Multiplicative Lens

尽管大学为支持黑人STEM本科学生做出了善意的努力，但由于对黑人种族身份的普遍、基于赤字的假设，以及以变革和可持续的方式推进整体、种族福祉所需的结构性参与类型，政策和实践改革面临着无法适当惠及所有黑人的风险。简单地说，STEM环境不能充分支持黑人本科STEM学生，因为STEM教育者和从业者仍然不确定黑人对个人意味着什么，从而限制了真正的种族平等努力。相反，关于种族的当代文学假设黑人的体现在多个维度和轴上不同，包括种族身份（例如，非洲裔美国人，加勒比裔美国人，尼日利亚裔美国人），地方身份（例如，南部，中西部）和代际身份（例如，第一代，第二代，第三代）。来自不同种族和代际身份的黑人学生对种族气候的看法和对他们STEM经历的理解各不相同。认识到黑人的范围及其对创造和维持STEM中种族平等的整体，异质概念的影响，该团队将在位于美国大西洋中部，东南部，西南部和中西部地区的六个机构（两个HBCUS，两个pwi，一个多数黑人机构和一个HSI）之间建立一个合作网络，以研究黑人本科STEM学生的黑人概念如何在这些方面有所不同。研究小组将开展一项探索性顺序混合方法项目，将马赛克人种学、调查设计和调查管理整合到五个州的黑人本科STEM学生中。通过这些方法，学生对黑人的概念将被探索，因为它与他们在STEM中的参与和种族平等的观点有关。为了促进所有黑人在STEM领域的种族平等，该项目将产生分析工具（即理论、研究方法、定性和定量措施）和转化产品（即专业发展、动画、信息图表），这些工具将改变机构和组织的政策、实践和未来的研究如何对待STEM领域的黑人，从而促进量身定制的资源和支持，以满足黑人的细微需求。这项工作的预期结果将为STEM教育中以种族平等为重点的政策和实践的制定和实施提供信息，促进黑人本科生更多地接触和持续参与STEM。这个合作项目是通过STEM教育项目中的种族平等（EHR种族平等）资助的。该项目支持研究和实践项目，调查种族平等因素如何影响科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）教育和劳动力的改善。获奖项目旨在将STEM企业中受系统性不平等影响最大的个人、社区和机构的声音、知识和经验集中起来。该项目符合美国国家科学基金会的核心价值，即支持来自全国不同人口群体、地区和组织类型的杰出研究人员和创新思想家。EHR种族平等的资金来自EHR各个项目，以表彰其项目与董事会四个部门的集体研究和开发重点的一致性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Despite well-intentioned university efforts to support Black undergraduate STEM students, policy and practice reforms run the risk of not appropriately benefiting all Black people due to pervasive, deficit-based assumptions about Black racial identities and the types of structural engagement needed to advance holistic, racial well-being in transformative and sustainable ways. Stated simply, STEM contexts do not adequately support Black undergraduate STEM students because STEM educators and practitioners remain unsure of what Blackness means for individuals, thereby constraining true racial equity endeavors. Contemporary literature regarding race posits instead that embodiment(s) of Blackness differ across multiple dimensions and axes, including ethnic identity (e.g., African American, Caribbean American, Nigerian American), place identity (e.g., South, Midwest), and generational identity (e.g., first-generation, second-generation, third plus generation). Black students from different ethnic and generational identities having varied perceptions of the racial climate and understandings of their STEM experiences. Recognizing the scope of Blackness and its implications for creating and sustaining holistic, heterogenous conceptions of racial equity in STEM, the team will establish a collaborative network among six institutions (two HBCUS, two PWIs, one majority Black institution, and one HSI) located across the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest regions of the US to study how Black undergraduate STEM students’ notions of Blackness vary with respect to these dimensions. The research team will conduct an exploratory sequential mixed methods project, integrating mosaic ethnography, survey design and administration of the survey to Black undergraduate STEM students across five states. Through these methods, the students’ conceptions of Blackness will be explored as it relates to their STEM engagement and perspectives of racial equity in STEM. In efforts to foster racial equity in STEM for all Black people, this project will produce tools of analysis (i.e., theories, research methods, qualitative and quantitative measures) and translational products (i.e., professional developments, aminations, infographics) that will change how institutional and organizational policies, practices, and future research treat Black people in STEM, thereby promoting tailored resources and supports to meet Black people’s nuanced needs. The desired outcomes from this work will inform the development and implementation of racial equity focused policies and practices in STEM education, facilitating increased access and sustained engagement in STEM for Black undergraduate students.This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.