The document outlines the importance of leveraging cultural elements to enhance diversity in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education by creating an inclusive ecosystem that fosters identity and agency among underrepresented groups. It discusses the transition from traditional STEM education approaches to innovative models that integrate social and cultural insights to broaden participation and improve engagement and academic success. Recommendations include evolving strategies for deeper engagement, treating culture as a central element in education, and promoting collaborative relationships within the STEM ecosystem.

1. Leveraging Culture to
Create a Powerful
Eco-System for Success
in STEM Diversity
Jamie M. Bracey, Ph.D.
Director, STEM Education & Research
Founding Director, Pennsylvania MESA
Temple University College of Engineering
November 6, 2014

3. STEM Talent Development
Continuum – Early 21st Century

4. Elements of a University Eco-system Economy
K-12 Schools
Parents/Students
Institution of
Higher
Education
Community &
Civic Leaders
Formal/Informal
STEM Learning
Resources
Business/
Industry Partners
Tech Transfer
via R&D/IP
Digital Tech
Infrastructure
Degree
Pathways Real Estate
Tuition
Credits
Research
OSP/IRB/RAS
Produce Viable Talent

5. Economic Eco-System
9 AREAS OF HUMAN INTERACTION WITHIN AN
ECONOMIC ECO-SYSTEM
Labor Religion
Environment
ACCESS TO
RESOURCES
Procreation
Law/Justice
Entertainment
Education
Politics
War
SUSTAINABLE
NATIONAL
ECONOMY

6. In MY lab??!!
Noooo….sob

7. I’m not interested in
preserving the status
quo, I want to
overthrow it.
Niccolo Machiavelli

8. Key Cultural Elements of IHE’s
Producing Diverse STEM Talent
— Clear leadership from President/Provost/
Deans
— Clear investment in infrastructure
(technology, facilities, advising capacity)
— Clear incentives for early adoptors of
cognitive and noncognitive supports for
retention and graduation

9. Research on Cultural Assets for African American and
LatinSo oChcilidore-nC ultural Elements of Learning
Environments for Minority URGs
SOCIAL
l Quality of Transactional Relationships in the classroom are
CRITICAL (Boykin, 2006; Hurley, et al, 2005; Delpit, 1988 )
l Language accommodation (ELL) accelerates cognition when
learning math (Abedi, 2006)
l Expectation of high verve, communal, metaphoric and analogous
communication (Akbar, 1985)
l Identity within education is fundamental to student achievement
(Bracey, 2013; Cokley, 2003; Hilliard, 1998)

10. Research on Cultural Assets for Cultural & Linguistic Minorities
Cultural Attributes that Provide
Cognitively Advantages
NEURAL
l Cultural orientations affects neural processing (Hedden et al, 2008; Nisbett & Miyamoto,
2005; Floyd, et al, 2003) )
l There are cultural differences in children’s memory scales and recall (Cash, 2008)
l Approaching tasks using your own cultural assets gives your brain a cognitive advantage
of “attending” more deeply to concepts during information processing (Kitayama, Duffy,
Kawamura and Larsen,2003)
Black children scored higher on most of the subtests for complex memory, including
memories for stories, order sequencing, and word reminding. One can now make the
argument that this performance is aligned with the heavy African oral tradition that
continues in today’s heavily allegorical black church. White children performed better on
tests measuring spatial memory and object recall, again consistent with the emerging
research on their cognitive bias toward knowing where and what something is.
, Duffy, Kawamura and Larsen (2003)

11. Infusing Cultural Constructs to
Produce Diverse STEM 2.0 Talent
Family
Values SME
Values
Community
Values
Cognitive
Apprenticeship
Cognitive
Apprenticeship
Cognitive
Apprenticeship

12. First, the results of using Culture & Cognition in STEM
Education:
Results of Integrating Social, Institutional and
Expert Cultures for URGs STEM 2.0
10 ASEE Science & Engineering Apprenticeships as of 2014
#2 in the Nation, MESA USA 2014 National Engineering Championships
4 Team Medals MESA USA 2013 National Engineering Championships
Mobile Apps Team Recognized by 2013 US Conference of Mayors
Completed Mobile App Prototype for VA Suicide Prevention Team 2013
Navy STEM skills camps in 4 cities in 2013 – replicated 9 cities in 2014
Winners 2013 AT&T Hackathon $5,000
Launched Community Tech Makerspace: Creative Tech Works Design Studio
100% have matriculated in Engineering or Computer Science – Temple, Drexel, Penn
State, Villanova, CCP
100% of work study students in programs graduated with financial help; 2 are
completing NSF LSAMP MS/PhD Programs
ss:
White House Equal Futures
Mobile Apps Challenge (Girls)
2013

13. STEM Education 2.0: The Quest to Broaden Participation Jamie M. Bracey, Ph.D.
From Engagement to Motivation to Persist (M2P):
Seven years after congressional reports raised awareness of the threat
poor education in STEM posed to our nation’s security and wealth,
strategies to accelerate student learning in STEM are still evolving. For
underrepresented groups, recent STEM programs (where they exist)
have provided exposure and engagement activities designed to increase
interest and academic achievement. STEM 1.0 has focused on
providing access, and is highly dependent on creating tools and
materials – as if providing “stuff” they didn’t have before would
motivate students in underperforming
schools to stick with academically
challenging coursework.
Providing materials, resources and
improving K-20 teacher expertise in STEM
content delivery are critical. But engagement
is often episodic in learning environments that are
mandated to focus on remediation.
STEM 1.0 exposure, engagement and experiences are important, but
the current approach does not provide clear guidance on how to help
students from underrepresented groups navigate STEM opportunities
with sufficient efficacy to achieve individual goals.
STEM 2.0 broadens participation by elevating engagement from a
series of activities to a process that helps create identity and agency in a
valued eco-system. The activities become less important than the
principles used to design the experiences, and those experiences are tied
to being able to transform the individual, their community and society.
Just as inquiry and project based learning are synonymous with the
culture of STEM 1.0 learning environments, STEM 2.0 leverages
social, classroom and expertise culture to accelerate identity formation.
The hypothesis is that the intersection of engagement and identity
development can be applied to promote M2P in STEM domains for any
student, but uniquely accelerate that emotional and cognitive state for
minority students.
Director, STEM Education
Temple University College of Engineering
Recommendations to Advance STEM 2.0:
• Evolve our thinking from programs to approaches, from models to
applied principles
• Treat culture as a social science, not a series of symbolic activities
• Develop engagement strategies that require immersion in an eco-system
• Promote interpersonal relationships, self sufficiency, and freedom
• Create evaluation models that assess navigation of STEM over time
What kind of “Scale” makes sense to Broaden
Participation in STEM?
• Scaling for impact
• Scaling for influence
Guiding Principles to CREATE a STEM 2.0 Initiative to
Broaden Participation & M2P of Underrepresented Groups
Culturally and socially relevant projects accelerate cognition
Reflection increases academic and technical skill rigor
Engagement is designed to support identity formation
Access to experts is required to navigate an ecosystem
Technology extends learning to access on demand 24/7
Entrepreneurship, wealth creation and philanthropy are
demystified
Learning & Instructional Theories Used with URGs in STEM: Situated Cognition;
Social and Cognitive Constructivism; Motivation; Cognitive Apprenticeships; Cultural
Competence & Creativity. Contact info: jamie.bracey@temple.edu.