Science Identity for Urban Students

Teacher Amani Ghusein stands behind two students who are running a science experiment, in which one student throws a cotton ball at the face of the second student, to test the second student's blinking reflexes.  The second student is wearing safety goggles.

Why does science identity matter?  Despite ongoing discussion on the decline of STEM higher level study and careers in the United States, few experts mention the issue of access for Black and Latino youth.  And the issue of access starts with cementing identities as scientists from a young age.

In her fourth grade classroom at CPS Dawes Elementary, Amani Ghusein, BA Urban Education: Elementary Education '04, finds many of her Latino students do not identify as scientists.  But she's working to reverse that trend: