Socorro Cambero (she/her) is a graduate student at the UC Irvine School of Education under the teaching and learning area program of study, specializing in sociocultural perspective of learning. She works alongside teacher educators and future STEM teachers part of UCI CalTeach, a 4-year bachelorette plus credential STEM program. Socorro studies the process of becoming a social justice oriented STEM teacher.
CalTeach I AREPA: Anti-Racist Education Partners for Action I Orange Country Educational Advancement Network Research Fellow
One serious manifestation of inequity in STEM classrooms is teachers’ deficit perceptions of minoritized students, wherein they perceive non-western ways of thinking, talking or doing science as wrong, rather than scientifically meaningful and generative. Deficit perceptions can have a serious impact on minoritized students’ ability to learn, belong, and persist in science. Humanizing, culturally responsive pedagogies, and anti-racist pedagogies have been identified as approaches that can promote equitable science instruction and address inequitable outcomes. Socorro and CalTeach teacher educators aim to enhance CalTeach, a science teacher preparation program for by foregrounding anti-racist pedagogies and focusing on how students’ daily struggles can be used to inform and create meaningful learning experiences for students.
Key words: STEM Teachers Of Color; social justice in STEM classrooms; online communities; affinity spaces; collaboration
