Please join us on Wednesday, April 5, as we welcome Dr. Niral Shah (back) to MSU/CREATE.

We will again offer Zoom participation for those who cannot attend in person. 

Feel free to share this information with interested colleagues - all are welcome. 

We hope to see you on Wednesday, April 5th, either in person or on Zoom!

Racism is Permanent: So What Next for STEM Education?

Abstract: Anti-racism has become a focus for many in STEM education, especially in recent years. In the name of racial equity and racial justice, researchers and educators in STEM have pursued a variety of goals, including proportional representation of BIPOC learners, the building of STEM identities, and humanization. However, as a field we rarely consider the limits of such efforts. In this talk, I draw on Derrick Bell’s theory of racial realism to reflect on the possibilities and limits of anti-racist work in STEM education. Mobilizing Bell’s claim that racism is permanent, I ask: what are the implications for how we design anti-racist versions of STEM education? And further, can any version of STEM education actually produce racial justice for BIPOC communities?