The Systematic Misuse of Science

#BlackGirlMagic: The identity conceptualization of Black women in undergraduate STEM education

“…A. Brown & Mutegi, ; Green, ). Racial identity expression is only one dimension of identity; as previously mentioned, identity is multidimensional with intersecting dimensions.…”

“…A. Brown & Mutegi, ; Green, ). By taking a developmental psychology informed perspective, we recognize the historically rooted components of a race and gender identity, acknowledging and foregrounding the histories of those identities as they permeate not only the contexts surrounding individuals but also the immediate and present lived experiences of individuals.…”

Discovery Orientation, Cognitive Schemas, and Disparities in Science Identity in Early Adolescence

“…In addition, racial/ethnic minorities, particularly African American and Latino youth, are underrepresented in science careers (Baysu, Phalet, and Brown 2011; Brown 2004). Economic and social-structural factors still contribute to lower science achievement scores among racial/ ethnic minority compared with white youth (Altschul, Oyserman, and Bybee 2008; Green 2014; Provasnik et al 2012). No science fields have proportional representation by race/ethnicity (National Science Board 2016).…”

“…Alignment of student, racial/ethnic, and gender identity depends on school context; marginalized identities make membership in school science communities undesirable or even impossible (Altschul et al 2008; Brown 2004; Riegle-Crumb, Moore, and Ramos-Wada 2011; Simpson and Oliver 1990). For African Americans, in particular, identifying with science or scientists may be difficult due to historical racism in science (Green 2014). Scientific studies that try to link intelligence to race contribute to stereotype threat that limits academic achievement for African Americans (Cohen et al 2006).…”

“…Discovery orientation is a measure of affect or feeling—the spark of curiosity, enjoyment, and interest that is key to all types of learning but is particularly crucial for science (Farrington et al 2012; Trujillo and Tanner 2014; Watt et al 2012). We created this measure in a way that would not trigger cognitive schemas or implicit attitudes that may inhibit self-selection into science pathways for some youth in order to assess if discovery orientation is distributed similarly among all social categories (Green 2014; Hill 2017; Hughes 2001; Ridgeway and Kricheli-Katz 2013). With the discovery orientation concept, we evaluate the idea that, in the absence of implicit gender and race/ethnicity associations, anyone with high discovery orientation could be a science kind of person.…”