Contemporary Debates on Equity in STEM Education: Takeaways From a Doctoral Seminar in Equity in STEM Education

Abstract

As the emerging field of equity in STEM education continues to grow, debates surrounding how to best serve populations with historically restricted access and successful outcomes within the STEM fields is growing as well. In this article, a group of doctoral students who took a course titled Equity in STEM Education and discusses their takeaways regarding the literature discussed in the course. The topics covered in this article will center around Gutiérrez’s (2007) equity framework of power, identity, access, and achievement. Through the lens of the equity framework, the dimension of power will be used to present discourse on the sociopolitical turn in STEM education. Identity will be used to explore debates on race, poverty, gender, and sexuality within STEM equity and education. Access will be used to examine discussions on students’ ability to achieve STEM equity in rural settings and within specific domains such as computer science. Finally, achievement will be used to explore arguments on both sides of the achievement gap research. To conclude, we urge researchers, educators, and policymakers to listen and act upon the work of contemporary scholars in order to achieve an equitable STEM education system.