Facilitating Strategic Support and Storying with Young Blind and Low Vision Leaders in STEM

Abstract

This series of articles were developed to understand how blind and low vision students engage in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and their considerations in pursing STEM education and careers. Multiple methods were used to investigate the overarching topics such as substantive grounded theory and the examination of photos in article one, the use of qualitative and quantitative data in article two, and the use of Indigenous methodologies with qualitative analyses in article three. The setting of articles one and two were both completed in a STEM program designed to engage Blind and low vision students in scientific inquiry. In article one, two co-researchers and I found that through a process of hands on projects, students fulfilled roles as apprentices, collaborators, and independent researchers within a context of accessible design and purposeful inclusion of technology. In article two, a co-researcher and I found that middle and high school students self-reported higher comfortability and skill when engaging in STEM activities after attending a week-long STEM program. The researcher developed article three to explore how Blind and low vision students described their STEM program experiences and to gather post STEM program stories through Sharing Circles and Storywork as Indigenous methodologies. Findings from the STEM Storywork Study were rooted in participants experiencing inaccessibility and low expectations beyond their STEM program experiences. While all participants persisted forward in their STEM career trajectories, participants were motivated by community and the sharing of their knowledge to ‘navigating a sighted world’. Their contributions to a more inclusive society were at the heart of their persistence in pursuing STEM education and career trajectories.