Department of Educational Administration

 

First Advisor

Stephanie Bondi

Date of this Version

12-2017

Citation

Lara, H. (2017). Latinx students in STEM education research: A CRT and LatCrit analysis of NSF funded projects, MA thesis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Comments

A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts, Major: Educational Administration, Under the Supervision of Professor Stephanie Bondi. Lincoln, Nebraska: December, 2017

Copyright © 2017 Hortencia Lara

Abstract

This thesis used Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Latino Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) to conduct an in-depth analysis of whether literature funded through the use of National Science Foundation (NSF) research awards perpetuates race, racism, or other interacting systems of oppression in the research or if the investigators resisted inequalities against Latinx students in STEM research. This thesis examined how the investigators of twenty NSF-funded articles examined the experiences of Latinx students in STEM. From a CRT and LatCrit lens I analyze articles to see if and in what ways researchers are complicit with oppression and which ways they resist. I argue that investigators not acknowledging racism and sexism in their research is as detrimental to Latinx students as it is to educational research. I also argue that investigators resisted inequalities with the use of culturally relevant approaches and practices. I found that the use of culturally appropriate approaches and counterstories identified Latinx students as holders and creators of knowledge and brought their ways of knowing from the margins to the center of research. In contrast, I found that research articles that maintained dominant ideologies such as meritocracy disadvantaged Latinx students, perpetuated inequality in higher education, and negatively influences research.

Advisor: Stephanie Bondi

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