Introduction

Transformational leaders are those that possess the ability and knowledge to recognize injustice and have the skills needed to advocate for change. Throughout schooling, students are made aware of the obstacles that hinder opportunities for underserved populations yet are given little opportunity to take action through the power of their voice. It is important that students recognize the transformational role they play in creating a system that is fair and just. Therefore, as educators, we must provide opportunities for them to strengthen their capacity to become advocates for themselves, their communities, and for others.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

I asked that check-in question to my students in the very first week of school. While there were a handful of students that were unsure of specific professions they might be interested in, I found many students' answers gravitated toward the STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Harnessing that information, it became evident that exposure to the field and the systemic injustices, like their underrepresentation of minority populations, needed to be explored so that students understood the systems of the fields I will encourage them to pursue.

The science field is an immense field that encompasses various careers and areas of study. I found that many students were unsure of the endless fields within science that they had been exposed to. As part of an activity, I had students research fields within the content area of their course (physics students researched physics professions). Students created a one slide presentation about a career in their specific science field. Students then shared their occupation of research with the other students in the class, exposing them to the array of occupations that lay within the field. Example slides of students below:

Conversation-Related Advocacy

After understanding my students' interest in the STEM field, I became aware of the necessity to expose students to the inequalities of representation that take place in the STEM field. The inequity of opportunity that is seen in the STEM field can affect many of my students of color and their ability to pursue a goal or dream to be scientists, tech workers, engineers, or mathematicians. I wanted to disclose the injustice of inequalities opportunity in the field all while encouraging students to recognize the importance that their voice and ambition have in activating change. Through the utilization of individual assets, students learned how to navigate and challenge circumstances of inequity of opportunity. Shown below is the lesson plan used to do so.

To begin the conversation about underrepresentation of minorities in STEM, students were given a pie chart that presented the spread of races in STEM (below, left). All students were given time in order to create observations of what they noticed (below, right). As predicted, many students pointed out how People of Color were extremely underrepresented compared to their white counterparts. Students noted that minorities, especially women minorities, had a drastic deficit in STEM jobs.

After discussing observations within the field, students were asked to give a response to the reasons that they believed there were so few minorities that were in the field. I asked them to be as honest as possible when constructing their responses so that I could address any misconceptions when we learned about the actual reasons minorities are underrepresented in STEM.

Many of the student responses stated personal beliefs on why they thought minorities were so underrepresented in STEM. Students shared that reasons could be because of lack of opportunity or lack of resources needed to reach the STEM field. Others shared they thought it was due to a lack of innate ability such as “minorities not being as smart.” Lastly, others shared that diversity in the field creates problems such as peers not getting along with one another. Whatever the responses were I appreciated their honesty and told them to keep all of their responses in mind as we proceeded with the lesson.

I presented the slideshow to my students (below). I emphasized how I wanted them to reflect on their responses when going through the presentation. Many students are aware of injustice in their societies, however, many of them were unaware of how those injustices link directly to inequalities of opportunity. Furthermore, many of them stated that they did not realize the impact education has on outcomes in the professional world. They were able to articulate that systemic injustice in education has inhibited many minority populations from achieving positions in the STEM field.

After the presentation, students read this article. While reading the article, students were required to fill out a concept map intended to help organize their thoughts. A concept map was used to help students link inequities found in the article to ways in which that impacts a student of color’s opportunity to enter the STEM field. The purpose of the concept map was to allow students the ability to pull bits of information from the article in order to digest how deeply that affects opportunities for students of color. Nearly all of my students come from diverse backgrounds, most of them are students of color. As they began to read about how many barriers affect their ability, as a student of color, to enter the STEM field, they developed the understanding that this is a very real-world problem, not only to others but themselves as well.

Students were required to jot down pieces from the article in order to reference how this would affect an individual's ability to become involved in the STEM field. Furthermore, they were expected to use that information in order to create a solution for the injustices read in the article. Evidence that my students have informed opinions about injustices is shown in their ability to articulate effects on opportunity that minorities face while pursuing a career in STEM. Students were made aware of the inequity of opportunity for students of color and they determined solutions that would be used to advocate for themselves and others.

Students were then paired up so that they could create an infographic that they would present to the class. Each pair was required to share the information that they gathered from the article in order to combine their thoughts into an infographic.

Students shared their infographics with their class in a two-minute presentation. When each of their presentations was complete, students were required to respond to two questions asked by their peers.

All of the students were able to articulate their concerns about underrepresentation in the STEM field. They have demonstrated this by citing and explaining artifacts that hinder the opportunity for minorities to become involved in STEM. Furthermore, they were able to determine and provide solutions that would combat the inequalities that they have referenced throughout the project. Students have demonstrated their ability to understand, write, and speak about the need to diversify the STEM community so that authentic voices, including themselves and other minorities, are heard and valued.

Action-Related Advocacy

The lesson plan below, I explicitly taught my students about advocacy as a means to take action on inequity of opportunity.

In the Jamboard below, my students were able to demonstrate their understanding of advocacy as they shared ways in which they could provide the means of support given a situation in which disparity of equity was presented.

After demonstrating their ability to identify the actions of an advocate, they were presented with a Jamboard (below) that connected their understanding of the real-world problem, the underrepresentation of minorities in STEM, to actions taken as an advocate. They were able to use their collective assets to navigate and challenge the inequity of opportunity through solutions presented in their concept maps and infographics to identify individuals or systems that could be utilized to advocate for change.

With constant updates from the news regarding school closures and openings, students were able to determine that Christine Kishimoto, the State of Hawai’i Superintendent, as well as the Hawai’i Department of Education possessed the power to address their concerns and solutions. With an empty letter template, students were given the directions to construct a letter using the information they had gathered throughout the lesson. Knowing that their voices and actions have value through showcasing their knowledge, abilities, and experiences in a letter calling for change is a true reflection of an advocate.

Student 1's Letter

Student 2's Letter

Student 3's Letter

All of the students were able to articulate their concerns about underrepresentation in the STEM field. They have demonstrated this by advocating for themselves and others through asking for specific requests including more funding for programs that benefited students of color and proper training for teachers so that all students felt the proper encouragement and support to pursue their desire to be involved in the STEM field. Underrepresentation in the STEM field affects my students' abilities and desire to pursue an occupation in STEM, predominantly due to the fact that nearly all of my students are people of color. Throughout this advocacy project, students learned about systems that affect their ability to pursue a career in STEM and learned ways in which they could advocate for themselves and others in a way that made STEM an equitable opportunity for all students.

Finally, we discussed that there are many other fields within our society that face relatively similar drawbacks that the STEM field has. Students shared that many high-power positions are overrepresented by white men, they even shared that many political figures are held by individuals that came from white privilege and wealthy backgrounds. I encouraged them to use the mechanisms and skills learned through this process to be an advocate of change and challenge the systemic injustices that they became more aware of.

While it is my understanding that not every student has developed a desire to enter the STEM field, it is important for them to understand they possess the capability to become transformational leaders. They built the understanding that no matter the current climate of fields they are interested in pursuing, they have developed the skill to advocate for themselves and their community through conversation and action. As high school students, they are beginning their journey of identifying the pathways they want to pursue in their future, ir is important for them to know that despite obstacles, they have the power of their voice and the skills to advocate for themselves as well as others.

Conclusion

Students are holders and creators of transformational change. As an educator, it is vital that I provide many opportunities for students to be exposed to skill-building necessary for them to become advocates.

Throughout this project, I became aware of the various perspectives my students hold about themselves and their future. They have the ability to achieve all of their dreams and aspirations, however, it is important for them to understand that when faced with inevitable injustice, they have the tools needed to combat it. Providing them the skills necessary to speak and write in order to combat inequity of opportunity is vital for their future. There is observable injustice in our society, now my students have the abilities and courage to combat the inequalities.