Fostering STEM identities : exploring perceptions of meaningful classroom engagement with diverse groups of secondary students

This study uses a qualitative portraiture methodology to examine how secondary students understand their experiences in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classrooms to support their STEM identity construction. It is informed by understandings that STEM identities are multidimensional and are shaped, in part, within secondary classrooms, where dominant norms and intersectional factors can influence students' sense-making practices. It draws on research exploring the intersections of equity and STEM identity, understanding STEM classrooms as socially cultured spaces that have historically created barriers for marginalized students to develop meaningful STEM identities. This research also situates educators as key agents in fostering classroom cultures that more equitably support diverse groups of students in constructing and sustaining their STEM identities. Portraits developed through this research capture diverse stories of student sense-making in STEM classrooms, which bring to life thematic findings highlighting how participants (n=57) perceive their experiences in STEM classrooms as influential in shaping their STEM identities. Data collected through focus groups revealed three themes, each representing distinct forms of meaningful classroom engagement for fostering STEM identities for diverse groups of students including: Meaningful Personal Engagement, Meaningful Social Engagement, and Meaningful Curricular Engagement. These findings confirm and extend understandings of intersectional identities in STEM, underscore the importance of fostering caring and collaborative STEM communities in supporting STEM identities, and establish new links between experiential learning pedagogies and STEM identity construction. This study also offers a conceptual framework for understanding how diverse groups of secondary students construct STEM identities in and through their experiences in STEM classrooms. While the findings, portraits, conceptual framework, and implications derived from this study are grounded in the unique experiences of its participants within the context of the research sites, they offer educators valuable insights into how students might engage in sensemaking practices that support the construction of STEM identities both within and through their experiences in STEM classrooms. Furthermore, they reveal broad, equity-based supports for those participating in STEM, which can be practically applied by educators as they work to create more equitable cultures of learning in their classrooms and decolonize practices and discourses in STEM education.