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The creation of specialty science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) Schools has been presented as a way to improve both academic and STEM-related outcomes, particularly in urban school districts where "failing" schools are converted the STEM Schools. This study examines this conversion process through the tenets of critical race theory, particularly the tenets of Whiteness as property, interest convergence, and the power of discourse. Using data collected from 28 textual sources and 29 interviews of teachers, students, and administrators at STEM Schools, a comparative case study approach was used to examine the historical development of two STEM Schools in one urban area. Findings indicated that the creation of STEM Schools was a way to protect STEM as a property of Whiteness by funneling resources toward White, middle-class students. Additionally, the motivation for the conversions demonstrates how interest convergence functions in educational reform. In particular, the interests of White parents (to have access to high-quality educational resources) and industry leaders (to develop a STEM workforce) temporarily converged with the interests of local families to improve neighborhood schools. However, ultimately, Black students and families, particularly those from lower socioeconomic status, were not served by the new STEM Schools.

Out of school time (OST) STEM opportunities are often presented as ways to support student achievement, understanding, and identity in STEM. Recent work has begun to explore how OST programs function within the STEM Learning Ecosystem, a holistic view of the various STEM learning opportunities available to youth in a given area. In order to increase understanding of how microcontexts impact the STEM Learning Ecosystem, this study explores the experiences and perspectives of three groups of participants in a network of after school STEM Clubs: youth participants, college student facilitators, and sponsor teachers. Based on interviews with all three groups, results of comparative case study analysis revealed two cases: Narrowed STEM and Expanded STEM. Youth in the Narrowed STEM case had traditional perspectives of STEM as hard, for smart people, and related to behavior; made only weak or no connections between STEM in different contexts; and had tentative STEM identities. Youth in the expanded STEM case had more active perspectives of STEM as exploration and problem solving, saw clear connections across contexts, and had decisive STEM identities. Critical Discourse Analysis was used to show how facilitators and club sponsors negotiated macro-level discourses of STEM and urban education in ways that aligned with youth views and influenced interpretations of the STEM Club. We highlight a need for critical and multiscalar evaluation of STEM Learning Ecosystems, particularly in urban areas, so that learning opportunities are available to all students, particularly those from groups historically excluded from science and STEM.

African-American women continue to be underrepresented in science and engineering field despite years of interventions, including providing out-of-school time STEM experiences. Although some out-of-school time programs have shown impacts in participants' content knowledge and skill acquisition, impacts on science identity development have been mixed, with some research indicating that participants' struggle to access science identities developed in out-of-school time in a formal educational setting. In order to better understand the barriers to accessing and developing science identity across contexts, this study uses a combined framework of Activity Theory, communities of practice, and Critical Race Theory to compare the in-school and out-of-school time STEM experiences of African-American girls. Using data collected in both settings, activity systems for an out-of-school time STEM Club and an in-school seventh grade science classroom are reconstructed and examined for contradictions. The results indicated that objects, and therefore outcomes, of the two systems contradicted each other and tertiary tools (ideologies) from the in-school activity system created contradictions and barriers within the out-of-school time activity system. We show how the contradictions were resolved through contraction, instead of expansion, of the activity systems and how this contraction can be viewed as maintaining science (and STEM) as a property of whiteness. This work has implications for both formal and informal educators and researchers who wish to support students' science identity development across contexts and disrupt inequitable distributions of science (and STEM) resources (physical and ideological).

Building on previous research that has described the underrepresentation of women of color in science fields, this paper presents case studies of Black middle school girls to examine how their science identities developed over space and time. Data were collected over the course of their seventh-grade year in both in school (science classroom) and out-of-school (afterschool club) contexts. The Multidimensionality of Black Girls' STEM Learning framework was used to explore the role of the afterschool club as a counterspace and how students made sense of science, science people, and their current and future selves based on their experiences in school and after school science contexts. All three participants struggled to see their future selves as scientists and made distinctions amongst being a "science person," a person who likes science, or a scientist. They also negotiated views of science as active and hands-on in the afterschool setting while experiencing more passive and decontextualized forms of science in the formal school setting. Implications include a need to disrupt the culture of science and reimagine formal science education by learning from out-of-school time science programs that function as counterspaces to support Black girls' science identity. We conclude that there remains a need to draw attention to and understand the role of race and racism in science education so that Black girls' science identities are affirmed beyond counterspaces.

The creation of specialty science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) Schools has been presented as a way to improve both academic and STEM‐related outcomes, particularly in urban school districts where "failing" schools are converted the STEM Schools. This study examines this conversion process through the tenets of critical race theory, particularly the tenets of Whiteness as property, interest convergence, and the power of discourse. Using data collected from 28 textual sources and 29 interviews of teachers, students, and administrators at STEM Schools, a comparative case study approach was used to examine the historical development of two STEM Schools in one urban area. Findings indicated that the creation of STEM Schools was a way to protect STEM as a property of Whiteness by funneling resources toward White, middle‐class students. Additionally, the motivation for the conversions demonstrates how interest convergence functions in educational reform. In particular, the interests of White parents (to have access to high‐quality educational resources) and industry leaders (to develop a STEM workforce) temporarily converged with the interests of local families to improve neighborhood schools. However, ultimately, Black students and families, particularly those from lower socioeconomic status, were not served by the new STEM Schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Out of school time (OST) STEM opportunities are often presented as ways to support student achievement, understanding, and identity in STEM. Recent work has begun to explore how OST programs function within the STEM Learning Ecosystem, a holistic view of the various STEM learning opportunities available to youth in a given area. In order to increase understanding of how microcontexts impact the STEM Learning Ecosystem, this study explores the experiences and perspectives of three groups of participants in a network of after school STEM Clubs: youth participants, college student facilitators, and sponsor teachers. Based on interviews with all three groups, results of comparative case study analysis revealed two cases: Narrowed STEM and Expanded STEM. Youth in the Narrowed STEM case had traditional perspectives of STEM as hard, for smart people, and related to behavior; made only weak or no connections between STEM in different contexts; and had tentative STEM identities. Youth in the expanded STEM case had more active perspectives of STEM as exploration and problem solving, saw clear connections across contexts, and had decisive STEM identities. Critical Discourse Analysis was used to show how facilitators and club sponsors negotiated macro‐level discourses of STEM and urban education in ways that aligned with youth views and influenced interpretations of the STEM Club. We highlight a need for critical and multiscalar evaluation of STEM Learning Ecosystems, particularly in urban areas, so that learning opportunities are available to all students, particularly those from groups historically excluded from science and STEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores school structure in an all-girls, predominantly African American middle class school to examine the ways in which discourses of education, race, gender, and science work to position middle school, African American girls as outside of science. Using discourse analysis, two prominent school signs are presented, a bulletin board and a classroom sign, and examined alongside excerpts from student interviews. The results indicate that being a 'Nice Girl' is a prerequisite for being a 'Good Student' and is synonymous with being a 'STEM Girl', potentially alienating students from viewing themselves, or wishing to be viewed by others, as a science person. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on previous research that has described the underrepresentation of women of color in science fields, this paper presents case studies of Black middle school girls to examine how their science identities developed over space and time. Data were collected over the course of their seventh‐grade year in both in school (science classroom) and out‐of‐school (afterschool club) contexts. The Multidimensionality of Black Girls' STEM Learning framework was used to explore the role of the afterschool club as a counterspace and how students made sense of science, science people, and their current and future selves based on their experiences in school and after school science contexts. All three participants struggled to see their future selves as scientists and made distinctions amongst being a science person, a person who likes science, or a scientist. They also negotiated views of science as active and hands‐on in the afterschool setting while experiencing more passive and decontextualized forms of science in the formal school setting. Implications include a need to disrupt the culture of science and reimagine formal science education by learning from out‐of‐school time science programs that function as counterspaces to support Black girls' science identity. We conclude that there remains a need to draw attention to and understand the role of race and racism in science education so that Black girls' science identities are affirmed beyond counterspaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]