Full Description
These compelling narratives illustrate how Black women educators cultivate inclusive, justice-centered STEM learning environments for K-12 students.
Explore the powerful pedagogies and lived experiences of four Black women educators who challenge structural barriers to reimagine STEM education as a space of radical love, cultural sustainability, and justice.
Grounded in a National Science Foundation-funded study, this volume documents how educators—through their stories, struggles, and triumphs—develop what the editors call Black STEMinist Pedagogies. These pedagogies center collective and communal responsibility, ancestral knowledge, and the healing power of teaching, offering a blueprint for how to recruit, support, and retain Black women teachers in STEM fields. Each chapter, authored by a diverse team of researchers, amplifies the voices of Black women teachers and affirms their role as knowledge producers and agents of transformation.
By weaving together life histories, scholarly analysis, and classroom narratives, this book offers both inspiration and practical guidance for creating a future where girls of color thrive at the center of STEM learning.
Book Features:
Original Framework: Introduces the concept of Black STEMinist Pedagogies, an approach that combines Black Feminist Thought with culturally sustaining pedagogies in STEM.
Rigorous Ethnographic Research: Draws from an NSF-funded mixed-methods study with first-person narratives that humanize data and provide nuanced insights into classroom practice and teacher identity.
Teacher Training and Retention: Provides a critical resource for teacher preparation programs, education researchers, and policymakers seeking actionable strategies for equity in STEM.
An Interdisciplinary Author Team: Written by a diverse team of Black, Brown, Indigenous, queer, and white scholars who bring layered perspectives, intersectional analysis, and reflexive methodology.
User-Friendly Format: Features a narrative-driven style accessible to educators, students, and community members alike.
Contents
Contents
Series Foreword vii
Foreword Carol D. Lee xi
Acknowledgments xix
1. Introduction: She Builds a Bridge 1
Aaminah Norris and José Ramón Lizárraga
2. A Champion for Students and Self: Creating Change as a Science Educator 17
Nalya A. F. Rodriguez
3. Becoming the STEM Teacher She Needed 33
Abigail R. Cohen
4. Her Calling Is to Be a STEM Teacher 55
Maha Elsinbawi
5. Replenishing the Fractures: On Teaching as a Site of Nourishment and Healing 73
Eghosa Obaizamomwan-Hamilton
6. In Conclusion: Building New Bridges to Just Futures 95
Aaminah Norris and José Ramón Lizárraga
Endnotes 105
References 107
Index 115
About the Editors and Contributors 119
