The Young Black Girl: A Narration of STEM Identity Through Science Origin in Elementary School

An ethnographic qualitative case study was conducted by examining the perceptions of two 5th grade Black girls at an independent school about their involvement with school science, the impact of race and gender towards their perception, and the influence of teachers, peers, and family on their science identity. Black girls are often relegated to outsider status within the classroom, lacking power and authority, which results in Black girls being denied a rightful presence in their learning community (Dumas & Ross, 2016). Additionally, their presence in STEM careers does not reflect their presence nationwide (Graves et al., 2014). The proposed study took place at Airline College Preparatory school (pseudonym) and analyzed data collected through open-ended interviews, written artifacts, drawings, surveys, and observations to elucidate how the participants saw themselves, interpreted science, discovered how they fit in, awareness of what they do and don’t like, and what they can and cannot do in their science class. Sociocultural perspectives aided in recognizing the impact of the students lived experiences on their science interest, while critical race feminism (CRF) helped to situate social class and liberal versus conservative ideologies in the science classroom. Identity components expounded the influence of family and peers towards the participants identity work