Hey Kids, STEM is for Everyone! Four Proven Steps for Creating a More Equitable and Inclusive STEM Classroom
It’s no secret that STEM fields aren’t exactly known for their inclusivity. Many STEM workplaces (and STEM learning environments) are dominated by white males and white male culture. As a result, many female students and students of color lose interest in STEM (or never become interested in it in the first place).
So how do we create STEM learning environments that are inclusive of the interests and ideas of girls and students of color? Many educators and education researchers have tackled this problem in different ways, but a recent study conducted by researchers in Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy sheds new light on this question.
The study examined participation by gender in an interest-based STEAM learning environment called FUSE. In this environment, students choose STEAM challenges of interest from a gallery of offerings on the FUSE website and complete them using a variety of digital and tangible tools and materials. The research study looked at user data from the FUSE website (what challenges students did and how far they persisted through challenges), as well as video of classroom interactions and end-of-year interviews with students about their experiences in the program. While the study focused particularly on gender equity, its findings speak to general principles for the design of inclusive, equitable, STEM learning environments.
The researchers argue that unlike many other equity-oriented STEM learning environments, which are designed to appeal to the interests or cultural practices of a particular group (e.g., girls, African American students, etc.), FUSE promotes equity and inclusion through diversity and choice. Specifically, the study highlights four design principles that can be applied in your STEM classroom to promote equitable participation in project-based STEM learning.
1. Design challenges that appeal to a broad range of youth interests.
Think about the things that interest young people – music, video games, jewelry, chatting with friends, taking selfies, or creating TikTok videos. Then think about how to connect those to the tools and skills of STEM professionals - coding, 3D design and 3D printing, electronics, vinyl cutting. Finally, curate a suite of activities that appeals to different interests and skills or allows for different entry points to the same skills.
For example, in FUSE, there are over 30 different STEM challenges, ranging from building and testing a solar car, to designing a video game, to creating a dream home using CAD software. Many of the challenges address unique interests and skills, but others allow for different interest-based entry points into the same skills. For example, to learn about 3D design and 3D printing, students can choose to make jewelry, cookie cutters, keychains, or model cars. So nearly all students can find something they’re interested in. And while boys and girls may be interested in different challenges, they end up getting many of the same skills.
2. Allow students to choose what to work on and how.
After designing challenges that appeal to a variety of youth interests, the next important step is to give students a choice. Let them choose whether they want to learn coding or 3D design and whether they want to make jewelry or a model car, design a video game or a virtual escape room. It’s also important to let students choose how to work on challenges. Let them decide if they prefer to work alone or with others, to closely follow directions or go off road into projects of their own design, to learn from written instructions or videos or by tinkering with materials. This makes space, not only for diverse student interests but also for diverse approaches to learning.
3. Design activities to start easy and get gradually more complex.
Another thing that this study found is that it’s important to allow students see early success. This is particularly true for students who may hold preconceived notions about their own STEM abilities or the STEM abilities of “people like them.” The FUSE program uses the video game model of “leveling up”. So, all challenges start easy, to invite interest and early success. Then, once students are interested and have built a little confidence, the challenges get progressively harder and more complex.
4. Encourage students to learn from each other, not the teacher.
Finally, it’s important to position young people as competent and encourage them to learn from each other’s expertise, rather than always relying on the teacher. In FUSE, the teacher doesn’t play the role of content expert, but instead guides students to places where they might find the information they need (e.g., the FUSE website, their peers). As a result, students get to step into the role of expert and get recognized by their peers for that expertise. This experience was reported as particularly valuable for students who either hadn’t been recognized as experts (or even competent) in other parts of school or who were initially unsure of their interests or abilities in STEM.
As a result of these four design principles, the study showed that FUSE has been successful at creating an inclusive learning environment that equitably engages both male and female students with diverse backgrounds and interests in STEM learning. This was evident in classroom video, which showed girls routinely stepping into the role of content expert or leader, getting to direct their own learning and develop their STEM interests. It was also evident in the analysis of web data on challenge activity, that showed that while roughly half of the FUSE challenges were chosen more often by boys, the other half were chosen more often by girls or were gender neutral. Finally, it was evident in the fact that boys and girls persisted through challenge levels at similar rates and in interviews, reported similar, positive experiences as a result of participation in the program.
These findings are promising, because they show that STEM doesn’t have to be a boys club and provide concrete principles that you can apply in your project-based STEM classroom to make it a more inclusive and equitable space.
If you’d like to learn more about FUSE, and our research-based approach to STEM education, check out our website, or drop us an email at hello@fusestudio.net!