Community informatics in STEM education: an inquiry into an out-of-school, STEM education program from the perspective of parents and youth participants

Women, African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans are underrepresented in STEM at the high school, college, and careers levels. For underrepresented groups, many efforts may come too late to address underlying problems such as perceived lack of ability and lack of exposure. Out of school, semi-structured robotics programs with embedded community informatics (CI) practices have demonstrate great potential for increasing STEM access, exposure, and interest for all students. Yet, while programs of this kind have demonstrated promising outcomes for increasing STEM interest early in the STEM education pipeline, gaining access to tools and resources for underrepresented communities students can be very challenging. This qualitative research study uses a constructionists grounded theory methodology to examine what happens when a group of African American parents attempt to gain access to resources and implement STEM programming (a robotics project) outside of a traditional school setting. This study employ the theoretical frameworks of community cultural wealth, bridging and bonding social capital, and possible-selves, in examining the challenges and triumphs of African American parents in establishing a quality robotics program for their middle school level African American children in a small urban Midwest community.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Policy Studies

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2016

Author dc:creator

• Slates, Angela M

Contributors dc:contributor

• Pak, Yoon
• Span, Christopher
• Dunbar, Christopher
• "Bruce, Bertram ""Chip"""

• STEM Education
• African American Education
• Community Informatics
• Constructivist Grounded Theory
• Robotics
• Education
• Qualitative Inquiry
• STEM
• Community Cultural Wealth

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright Angela M. Slates 2016

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/92990

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F92990