Skip to main content

Search NYU Steinhardt

Black Women Science Teachers Use Poems to Explore Their Lives and Career Paths

Posted

A qualitative study from Tenure-Track Assistant Professor of Science Education Alexis Riley explores how elder Black women teachers reflect on familial support in encouraging scientific curiosity—despite lack of formal science learning or encouragement as children.

Black mother plays with her young daughter dressed as an astronaut and holding her helmet

Getty Images/SrdjanPav

Black employees comprise 9 percent of the STEM workforce. As a result, most Black children who are curious about science never benefit from the “role model effect,” a phenomenon in which people see relatable characteristics in successful individuals and believe they can achieve similar success.

To better understand the early science experiences of Black women in science education, an NYU researcher sought out their stories and found that family role modeling and support were the key factors in cultivating their interest and curiosity. In contrast, schools provided little formal science education or encouragement, which means they had to heavily rely on science-career professionals at home or a once-in-a-lifetime scholarship to strengthen their curiosity.

In a qualitative study, five Black women science teachers, each with more than 15 years of experience, shared their teaching and life experiences through one-on-one interviews and poetry.  The interviews were designed to elicit narratives of their lives, including early childhood experiences as well as their teaching, and the poems—written to their childhood selves—sought to understand how reflection helps Black women science teachers make meaning of their past experiences

“Black girls, which includes those who attend under-funded public schools, deserve the opportunity to be science curious, to be able to use and enjoy science in any way they so choose,” says Alexis Riley, assistant professor of teaching and learning at New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. “One of the many ways to redress feelings of exclusion and erasure in the culture of science and foster change for Black girls is to bring life to how we support Black women science teachers, and one of the ways to do that is to use freeing avenues for creative expression such as poetry.”

The participants’ responses and poems were coded and analyzed to determine common themes. Riley's findings are published in Science Education.

Headshot of Alexis Riley

Black girls ... deserve the opportunity to be science curious, to be able to use and enjoy science in any way they so choose.

Alexis Riley, Tenure-Track Assistant Professor of Science Education

After interviewing the participants, Riley identified the following:

  • Curiosity served as the integral part of their science identities and persistence. 
  • As teachers, most participants teach in ways that address science education gaps they experienced in schools.
  • Parents played a critical role in encouraging their interests and curiosity.

In the poems, she found overlapping sentiments with the previous themes.

  • Being othered—being seen and treated as an outsider in formal science education spaces
    • “Thank you for loving science when people outside of home tried to deter you,” writes Dr. Edwards.
  • Curiosity—being inclined to ask questions and seek understanding
    • One line from Dr. Eaton’s poem reads, “The depth of curiosity that no one knew how to nurture, but you were allowed to explore.”
  • Familial support—drawing on systems of encouragement and support from family and feeling spiritually connected to ancestors
    • “You came from strong stock and your ancestors were always behind pushing you all the way,” writes Dr. Evans.

Riley writes that Black girls’ learning can be stifled in classrooms, noting that teachers may find Black girls asking a question as “sassy, disruptive, aggressive, or loud.” She proposes that curricula in schools “give ample space for young Black girls and other minoritized groups to explore their curiosity and communicate their thoughts, questions, and ideals without punishment.”

“For science teachers who desire to help their students be seen within the science content and to express themselves in the science learning spaces process, they must consider frameworks of liberation and anti-racism—for example, inviting students who are community members to science fairs, debates, or presentations to increase public awareness and giving students space to make sense of climate change or climate denial and issues related to COVID-19 in the classroom,” says Riley.

Press Contact

Jade McClain

(646) 469-8496

Related Articles

Joseph Cimpian Finds Most Selective Universities Reduce STEM Gender Gap

Research from the professor of economics and education policy shows that more selective U.S. universities approach gender parity in physics, engineering, and computer science—while less selective ones see widening gaps.

Black Women Teaching Science Find Formula for Incorporating Anti-Racist Practices, Study Finds

A study by Assistant Professor of Science Education Alexis D. Riley found that Black female science teachers are finding ways to incorporate anti-racist teaching in their classrooms.

Early Academic Success Does Not Lead to Increased STEM College Enrollment for Black and Latine Students

A study from Associate Professor of International Education Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng finds that White English-speaking students are the only group with a positive relationship between STEM aptitude and STEM college enrollment.

Related Programs

Science Education

Become an effective science educator and leader in schools and nonprofits, and turn your passion for science into a career that makes a difference.

Read More

Related Department

A student teacher teaches secondary school students
DEPARTMENT OF

Teaching and Learning

Department of Teaching and Learning 
239 Greene Street, Sixth Floor
New York, NY 10003
Tel: 212 998 5460