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DISSERTATION PROJECT v. 2021

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Coloring Outside The Lines: Archive Cover

How does STEM pedagogy become key to envisioning new societal futures? 

My dissertation research examines how California’s educational and professional futures are being transformed by an array of programs and policies that refocus STEM pedagogy to meet the personal, community, and local needs of students and their environments. STEM educators today are advocating for innovative curricula that center students’ understandings of the world; hiring and training educators from underserved communities in STEM; and expanding STEM learning and teaching to out-of-school environments such as science centers, museums and community education. This study examines the array of ways K-12 STEM educators and administrators are enacting “next-generation” STEM pedagogy, working across state, non-profit, and corporate sectors. 

By examining the pedagogical ideals, aspirations, subjectivities, tactics, and working environments of STEM educators, this project underscores the critical role of pedagogy and its practitioners in the production, reproduction and circulation of scientific knowledge.

Woke Math

What is at stake in next-generation STEM education?

California Department of Education draft plan to revise the K-12 Mathematics Framework to make social justice issues central to how math is taught in middle and high schools met with resistance from several fronts, including 600 scientists and educators who have signed an open letter asking it to be withdrawn. It further emphasizes integrated tracks in middle schools to close the racial achievement gap and progression along with acceleration. Critics of the plan argue that math education should not "woke", pointing instead to other industrialized nations, especially in East Asia, from where students outperform American students in math. Meanwhile, educators continue to state that STEM education cannot remain apolitical in the wake of pandemics and protests. 

AO. Parastatal archives in Kenya.

This quote by Tayiana Chao sheds light on lesser known archives that many of Kenya's parastatal agencies hold. Parastatal agencies are companies, agencies, or intergovernmental organizations that...Read more

BIEA Partial Digitized Collections on Aluka/JSTOR

AO: This artifact gives an appreciation for the types of materials held by BIEA that have been archived through Aluka/JSTOR. According to this overview written up by the British Archaeology Data Service...Read more

Tayiana Chao on Archives in Nairobi

With regards to identifying archives around the city, I think some of the collections that are generally not talked about are parastatal archives. This [would include] Kenya Railways, Kenya Posta, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, etc. Because they are both private and public institutions, the...Read more

Kemoni, N. Henry, and Patrick Ngulube. “National Archives and the Effective Management of Public Sector Records in Kenya,” 2007.

TM: This is a research report on the findings of the challenges faced by government ministries and state departments in Kenya. It contains a detailed report of findings from 157 research participants identifying the challenges that hamper effective government intersectionality in regard to...Read more

Fedha, N.W. 1972. "The Role of the Archives in Research." Conference Paper. Nairobi, Kenya.

AO: In February 2019, I came across this document written in 1972 by one of the early chief archivists of the Kenya National Archives (N.W. Fedha). The document outlines the early history of the Kenya National Archives as well as the rationale and motivation for its creation...Read more

Isaacman, Allen F., Premesh Lalu, and Thomas I. Nygren. 2005. “Digitization, History, and the Making of a Postcolonial Archive of Southern African Liberation Struggles: The Aluka Project.” Africa Today 52 (2): 55–77.

AO: While not explicitly on BIEA or Kenya, this article is important to better understand the context out of which Aluka was created. Aluka is the digital library which houses the (partially) digitized collections of BIEA. Founded in 2003, in June 2008, the Ithaka...Read more

AO. Physical buildings and storage conditions.

AO: While it may seem self-evident, this excerpt from the workshop summary report underlines the continued importance of physical buildings to protect archival material. Especially at a time when...Read more

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