2 Introduction: Our STEAM education and outreach system needs a revamp
Increasing diversity within the sciences creates inclusive opportunities for future students, professors, and professionals to enter the STEM workforce. This will also contribute to the networks of scientists who come from various backgrounds and will inspire the next generation of scientists. Education outside of the classroom is just as important and at times more significant than inside the classroom. Many people overlook the significance of outreach and the impacts it has on students and their learning environments. The difficulty, however, is to establish effective connections with people in those communities, so that science educational outreach activities can reach a broader audience 3.
It has been explored that there has been a declining interest and inspiration in STEM-related fields among PEERs students 4. According to Basu and Barton 2007, there are many reasons why students of color may not be interested in science including “envisioning the field of science as distant and inaccessible 5. From the study, it was shown that students report material is unengaging and lacks cultural representation. This supports the need to incorporate and develop ways to better engage marginalized/underrepresented students in STEM and educate the public about the applications of science in our daily lives.
To help address the gap between the PEER’s community and STEM interest which will contribute to a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive scientific community, I propose that designing a series of hands-on activities with cultural relevance will lead to an increased interest in STEM for PEERs. Using hip-hop and sneaker culture as my central themes, my proposed outreach curriculum will appeal to those within the PEERS community. While the intended audience for these materials would be the public, the collective of PEERs would benefit from this material the most due to the cultural influences associated with using hip-hop culture as an educational mechanism. By utilizing hip-hop pedagogy specifically, I will make a cultural connection with people within the PEERS community.
