TY - JOUR
T1 - Opening up STEMM pathways among Indigenous people in the U.S.
T2 - what is the role of cultural, spiritual, and ethical conflicts in Indigenous people's STEMM educational and career decisions?
AU - Castagno, Angelina E.
AU - Ingram, Jani C.
AU - Camplain, Ricky
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful for the support of the National Science Foundation for support of this research (grant # 1835108), as well as Ms. Davona Blackhorse, who served as a Graduate Research Assistant and provided support during the early years of this project.
Funding Information:
This project developed explicitly out of the authors’ relationships, experiences, and expertise around Indigenous education, STEMM pathway concerns, and Native Nations’ desires for highly educated STEMM professionals who can serve their communities. Ingram and Castagno came together around a shared interest in understanding the role ethical conflicts may play in Indigenous people's STEMM career pathways. Ingram is an Indigenous woman and analytical chemist whose expertise centers on environmental health issues on tribal lands caused by legacy hard rock mining and pesticide use. In her labs and student training programs, Ingram has experienced, first hand, concerns involving ethical issues in science and her Indigenous students’ perspectives. Castagno is a White woman whose expertise is in Indigenous education, racism and educational equity, and qualitative research methodologies. After securing funding from the National Science Foundation for this project, Camplain joined the team as a Research Specialist because of her expertise in quantitative research methods and statistics. As an Indigenous woman in STEMM, Camplain also brought important lived experience and insight to the research team. The authors’ combined lived experiences and disciplinary expertise informed the development of the survey and the interview questions used in this research. Castagno and Ingram initially drafted the survey and interview questions, which were then disseminated to a dozen Indigenous colleagues in diverse STEMM fields. These colleagues were asked to complete the survey and provide feedback on content, clarity, and structure of both the survey and interview questions. We asked these colleagues to especially reflect on their own lived experiences, and to consider how the questions could explicitly elicit narratives that typically get erased within STEMM communities. Castagno and Ingram then revised the survey and interview questions accordingly and these final iterations of the protocols were used for data collection via Qualtrics. We intentionally combined surveys with interviews in our mixed methods design to account for both breadth and depth in the data collection, and both the survey and the interviews allowed for diverse modes of storytelling among participants.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - This paper explores how the educational and career paths of Indigenous people in STEMM have been impacted by ethical, cultural, and/or spiritual issues. Based on a survey of over 400 Indigenous students and professionals in STEMM fields, plus over 30 follow up interviews, we find that these issues cause some Indigenous people to leave particular fields altogether, others to avoid certain tasks within their chosen field, and still others to intentionally select particular fields. Ethical, cultural, and/or spiritual issues also are the reason some Indigenous people choose certain career paths, because of their desire to help their communities. By understanding these pathway impacts, STEMM leaders and educators can ensure more equitable pathways and can prepare, recruit, and retain Indigenous people in STEMM fields.
AB - This paper explores how the educational and career paths of Indigenous people in STEMM have been impacted by ethical, cultural, and/or spiritual issues. Based on a survey of over 400 Indigenous students and professionals in STEMM fields, plus over 30 follow up interviews, we find that these issues cause some Indigenous people to leave particular fields altogether, others to avoid certain tasks within their chosen field, and still others to intentionally select particular fields. Ethical, cultural, and/or spiritual issues also are the reason some Indigenous people choose certain career paths, because of their desire to help their communities. By understanding these pathway impacts, STEMM leaders and educators can ensure more equitable pathways and can prepare, recruit, and retain Indigenous people in STEMM fields.
KW - ethics
KW - Indigenous
KW - STEM pathways
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U2 - 10.1080/09500693.2022.2152293
DO - 10.1080/09500693.2022.2152293
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85145901146
SN - 0950-0693
JO - International Journal of Science Education
JF - International Journal of Science Education
ER -