Sowing equity: an empirical study to test the feasibility of nurturing an equity ethic in United States primary STEM education / Sembrando equidad: un estudio empírico para probar la viabilidad de fomentar la ética de la equidad en la educación primaria estadounidense en las áreas de ciencias,tecnología,ingeniería y matemáticas (STEM)

Abstract

This proof-of-concept study tests the feasibility that moral education can contribute to the design of learning environments for underrepresented children of colour in US science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Descriptive studies demonstrate how some people of colour in STEM fields value connecting their work to equity, culture and community: i.e., the equity ethic. Combining literature on the equity ethic with literature on the importance of early STEM exposure for children, this paper explores the feasibility that the equity ethic can be treated as a normative concept in broadening participation research. It details the implementation of one STEM programme that brought together computer science and moral content with the application Adinkra Computing: programmable software based on the geometric significance of West African Adinkra symbols. Specifically, Adinkra Computing was implemented with children (n = 28) in a predominantly African American US city. Findings from this implementation suggest that future studies should hypothesize that the equity ethic can be a normative concept for designing culturally rich learning environments that support children of colour in STEM education.