Leaning on the pillar of Moʻolelo, this talk will be a storytelling journey to a place of wonder in which participants will engage with knowledge and self in an inter-related context. This discussion will focus on research pertaining to STEM education accessibility through cultural research frameworks such as culturally relevant pedagogy, Beverly Daniel Tatum’s conceptual approach, and Sankofa methodology. There are several similarities in these framings and that of STEMS2, I will dissect these similarities (and contractions) with other researchers and practitioners to address the impact that may occur due to socialization within STEM. The intention of this discussion is to draw information and experiences from other practitioners and researchers on social norms that can and do exist within STEM classrooms and how this can affect students’ sense of community – specifically students of color. This talk’s layout will be a brief presentation of the current research about cultural knowledge and that of STEM, then a dialogue in which participants can share insights about success, and pitfalls, that they have seen or noticed. By the end of this experience, valuable resources to improve research framing and research questions will be addressed, and means of redesigning STEM culture for our students.

STEMS² Pillars: Moʻolelo