CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES For STEM Faculty Teaching Latinx Students (STEM-X)

The Journey from Mini to X: How ESCALA's STEM Course has Transformed Throughout the Years

ESCALA’s Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) in STEM Course was developed in late 2020 during the CoVID-19 pandemic to address HSI faculty’s expressed need to improve their competency and confidence in creating CRT STEM environments and to utilize culturally responsive pedagogies to boost Latinx/e students’ sense of belonging and persistence in STEM. The course designers are STEM practitioners in 2 and 4-year HSIs and collectively have experience in delivering faculty professional development to more than 400 STEM-HSI faculty from 30 different HSIs over the past 3 years. The course introduces culturally responsive teaching methods through anthropological and cognitive research including Choque (Rendon, 1994), teaching across cultural strengths (Chavez-Longerbeam, 2016), Utility-Value (Harackiewicz, 2016), validation theory (Rendon, 1994), and course data disaggregation. 

Course participants reflect on their own STEM identity and learn how their own cultural experiences are reflected in their reflect in learning spaces, methods to reduce equity gaps for Latinx students, such as practical culturally responsive examples and strategies for implementation in STEM courses, and methods to foster Latinx student STEM identity and belonging within their courses, and data analysis methods to assess student learning and foster STEM identity in their courses. Faculty are led by facilitators through practical CRT exercises using their teaching materials to facilitate the transfer of materials back into the classroom and promote changes in their curriculum.  

Apply Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) to create more inclusive and engaging STEM learning spaces for Latinx students by registering today!