Facilitating marginalized youths' identification with STEM through everyday science talk: The critical role of parental caregivers

An individual's sense of themselves as a STEM person is largely formed through recognition feedback. Unfortunately, for many minoritized individuals who engage in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) in formal and informal spaces, this recognition often adheres to long-standing exclusionary expectations of what STEM participation entails and institutionalized stereotypes of what it means to be a STEM person. However, caregivers, who necessarily share cultural backgrounds, norms, and values with their children, can play an important role in recognizing their children's interest and inclination towards STEM in ways that support children's authoring of their STEM identity in the face of these marginalizing discourses. To explore this idea, we conducted phenomenological interviews with STEM students attending a Hispanic-serving university, examining the nature of STEM-related conversations these students had with their parents during childhood. Participant recollections provide evidence of conversational content, contexts, and structures that supported their identification with STEM even when faced with marginalizing experiences. We found that though this phenomenon was recounted across parent profiles, participant narratives also reflected differences in conversation content, context, and structure based on factors associated with STEM stereotypes, including gender, formal education or training in STEM, and parents' immigration experiences. Viewed within larger sociocultural discourses of whose knowledge counts in STEM, our work suggests the need for educational institutions to acknowledge and embrace families' ability to foster youths' affinity with STEM contexts, while also recognizing and responding to institutionalized impediments to authentic STEM participation.

Automated summary

The study highlights the crucial role caregivers play in recognizing and supporting children's interest in STEM, helping them construct their own identity in the face of marginalizing discourses. It also emphasizes the need for educational institutions to acknowledge and embrace families' ability to foster youths' affinity with STEM while addressing institutional barriers to authentic STEM participation.