Teaching Growth Mindset as a Path to Diversity in STEM
Besides your parents, it’s likely that teachers were the adults who had the biggest impact on your life, as from the age of five, a large part of your day was spent with these people. Data from the U.S. Department of Education shows that although by 2024, students of color are expected to make up 56 percent of the student population, the elementary and secondary educator workforce is still overwhelmingly white, with 82 percent of public school teachers identifying as white in the 2011–12 school year (“The State of Racial Diversity”, 2016). In addition to a shortage of diverse role models, students are also faced with fixed mindsets, or the belief that intelligence is an innate, unchangeable trait (Hill et al., 2010). Teachers undeniably have the ability to inspire and empower their students, yet when students do not see their identities represented in role models and believe their intelligence is fixed, it becomes much harder for students to see themselves succeeding in STEM classes or careers.
The institutionalized racism that exists in the United States directly impacts the lack of diversity in STEM teachers and adds to the difficulty for students of color to see themselves with future success in STEM. Society is built around stereotypes that exclude people of color and women from STEM careers. Young students of color are impacted by this exclusion and the perpetuation of these stereotypes. Westward High School is a school with an aerospace program and a predominantly African American population, which would lead most to believe that this is a school that does well in encouraging students of color to pursue STEM (Margolis et al., 2011). Yet societal stereotypes consistently play out here too, as described, “For many students [at Westward], intelligence, when linked with a particular racial group, was most commonly linked with whites and Asians, and many drew on unfortunate (but common) stereotypes to communicate their thoughts” (Margolis et al., 2011). Students directly relate success with innate intelligence. And when the stereotypes reflect the idea that whites andAsians are most commonly intelligent, there is less space for students of color to see themselves being successful in STEM. Students of color are consistently discouraged from pursuing their interests in STEM due in part to the myth that innate intelligence leads to success as well as the lack of diverse role models.
These barriers seem to pile up and institutionalized racism continues to prevail in the United States, so we must return to this idea that teachers can, and do, inspire and empower their students. Teachers, parents, and mentors can encourage a growth mindset and directly demystify the idea of intelligence that is so built around the stereotypes that persist in the United States. While reducing the effects of institutionalized racism is an immense undertaking, supporting and encouraging young students of color is a step toward opening the STEM pipeline as well as increasing the number of STEM teachers of color. There are already many students of color who work hard, have diverse and supportive role models, and get degrees in STEM education, but who still face discrimination in STEM due to the systemic and institutionalized racism that exists in the United States. This is a reality that many people of color will face until there is real change in all of the systems that exist in this country that create these barriers to success. In order to start this change we can begin by changing the STEM pipeline. With the support of diverse role models, more students, and especially more students of color, can better understand that hard work, not innate intelligence, is the true path to finding success and a place in STEM.
