RISE Center webinar series: Navigating the hidden curriculum: Latine undergraduate students' science identity development

The dominant narrative that science is objective, value-free, acultural, and rooted within a system of meritocracy constrains the representation and advancement of minoritized groups in science. Although there are initiatives to improve the representation of minoritized groups in science, much of this effort focuses on achieving racial or ethnic diversity rather than recognizing students’ multiple ways of knowing and identities in the classroom. To understand how students learn science, we need to understand how students engage with this community and how this influences their identity development. This study aims to understand how Latine undergraduate students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) develop science identities and how racialized experiences may influence this formation. In this study we use a critical epistemological perspective, multiple theories of identity, and qualitative research methods to build a conceptual framework and describe the lived experiences of our participants. We facilitated eighteen testimonios (i.e., a critical counter-narrative interview methodology) with Latine science majors at three HSIs in the southwestern United States. Our analyses indicate that Latine students use various racialized identity resources to negotiate the formation of their science identities. Specifically, Latine students have complex access to and interactions with relational and material resources that create or hinder opportunities to engage in epistemological border crossing and science identity formation. To resist oppression, Latine students are demonstrating resilience through familismo and the creation of counterspaces that support their rightful presence in science. The results of this study provide insights into how Latine students engage with the culture of science and advance our understanding of how to best support Latine students throughout their undergraduate science education. Furthermore, this study demonstrates the need for more Latine instructors and culturally responsive curriculum development in higher education.

In partnership with the School of Life Sciences (SOLS).