Research

The Gateways to Science Careers program is a research training program designed and conducted by a collaborative of educational researchers who specialize in research on African-American students throughout the us. Given the small number of researchers who spend their efforts focusing on research in STEM careers, G2SC program focuses on providing opportunities for future STEM education researchers.The question then becomes an issue of civil rights when we consider the context and meaning of equity. If by equity we are claiming that all individuals from all walks of life are provided equal access to careers and opportunities, then current state of science education in America is far from equitable.

As young people enter elementary schools they are quickly sheltered into classrooms where their teachers choose how to integrate science into their existing curricula. Research has indicated that process is far more efficient for communities with experienced teachers. This issue becomes equally challenging when we begin to consider who teaches in urban classrooms. It is far more common to find young teachers learning their craft in urban classrooms full of minority students. In these contexts teachers are often cued to avoid teaching science, as students are not believed to have the reading comprehension skills and mathematics skills to comprehend early science. As a result, students begin their educational experiences with out the benefit of having the opportunity to engage in the deductive and inductive reasoning process that stands at the heart of science.

Ultimately, if students are not provided early access to science they do not benefit form the cyclical curricular design of science education. The Gateways to Science Careers Program is designed to provide a cohort of critical thinkers who can explore these issues at a great depth.  Without building an infrastructure to explore these issues science education will be slow to incorporate under represented students and provide them access to this basic civil right.