Participate and share: Poster 
The common narrative in computer science and STEM education is that students need to be prepared for “the jobs of tomorrow”. The industry and educational institutions understand this need and have a huge interest in creating a pipeline to meet the economic needs of the future. Frankly, students don’t care about what jobs they will have in the future, and are more invested in their present reality. What if educators and the tech industry shift their paradigm to empower students to create technology to improve their current lives, community and world?
The “grand challenges” of our time—Whether it be Earth’s carbon emissions reaching a level of no return, the water crises in cities such as Jackson and Flint, or the crumbling infrastructure in the USA,—disproportionately impact Black and Latinx communities and all require STEM-based solutions. It’s obvious to the youth that they are inheriting a planet, economic system, and country that are in peril. There is an opportunity for marginalized populations to be empowered through technology and innovation, yet extreme barriers exist.
One barrier is the lack of diversity in the tech industry and pipeline. The computer science field and pipeline are white and asian male dominated. These powerful individuals with limited perspectives make decisions around what technology is utilized by the masses. The equity and access issues that persist impact underrepresented minorities the most, yet the creators of tech are not in the closest proximity to the problem. Those that are proximate to the challenges are working against decisions and policymakers in power that do not have those groups’ interests in mind. Including those from underrepresented backgrounds in computer science and STEM education would empower all students to create and innovate to better their schools, communities, and world.
Introductions and Icebreakers (15 Minutes)
-Presenter introductions
-Icebreaker: Find a partner, plan a 15-minute unplugged computer science lesson that you will teach to your class in 2037 (15 years from now).
-Group discussion: How did that feel? It didn’t make a lot of sense, yet we are asking students to learn CS and STEM for their careers in 15+ years.
-Partner Discussion: When you reflect on your CS teaching, do you prepare students to be thinkers or workers? What examples can you give?
-Partner discussion + group share out: What do your students want to get out of school?
-Group share
Introduction to ways to increase equity and access: Kapor Framework (15 min)
-Partner discussion: How do you incorporate student identity and agency in your teaching?
-Review the student identity and agency component
-Partner discussion: How do you incorporate families and community in your teaching?
-Reviewing the community and family component
Putting it into practice (15 min)
-Attendees will see examples of how STEM to the future engages student agency and self-determination are leveraged into computer science and STEM learning.
-Attendees will see examples of how STEM to the future engages families and communities into computer science and STEM learning.
Create Lesson with a Partner (20 min)
-Educators will work with a partner to implement the resources and frameworks previously discussed.
-Educators will create a mini lesson through a “thinkers” lens that promotes social justice, identity, and CS/STEM.
Share Out (20 minutes)
-Educators share lessons with the group
-LinkedIn Group + Twitter handle sharing
Q&A (5 minutes)
https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/2021-02/CRSE-STEAMScorecard_FIN_optimized%20%281%29.pdf
https://www.kaporcenter.org/equitablecs/
What Drives You? Black and Latinx Youth’s Critical Consciousness, Motivations, and Academic and Career Activities
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8042779/
STEAM Education for Critical Consciousness: Discourses of Liberation and Social Change among Sixth-Grade Students
https://brill.com/view/journals/apse/7/1/article-p64_4.xml?language=en
Appropriating Technology
Ron Eglash, Jennifer L. Croissant, Giovanna Di Chiro, and Rayvon Fouché, editors
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