“I am able to have a different lens and different approach:” A Critical Examination of how Black Female Engineering Teachers Utilize and Create Counternarratives

Abstract

This research highlights the educational and professional experiences of three Black female secondary teachers of engineering. Using a lens of community cultural wealth, this research calls attention to the resources these teachers called upon during their navigation of engineering pathways and currently utilize to challenge their school’s normative perceptions of engineering and engineers. Findings of this work discuss how aspirational capital functioned to support the teachers’ successful matriculation through a STEM high school and undergraduate engineering and/or architecture programs, while also serving as a foundation for how they currently created opportunities for their students. Implications for future engineering education research and approaches for k-12 engineering educators acknowledging racialized and/or gendered experiences in these spaces are discussed.