4th Annual STEM Education Conference

With inspiration from the late Rep. John Lewis and other trailblazers such as the current National Youth Poet Laureate Ms. Amanda Gorman, Dr. Pitts will lead a discussion framed by the following central question: How can we help support and move the agency and practices of good disruptors in STEM education into central positions so that they can be afforded opportunities to build and share their practices? 
Being and becoming a good disruptor is always associated with opportunities and uncertainties in that every sociocultural action can potentially help to transform systems and can also help to reinforce systems and their boundaries. Accordingly, the constructive practices of disruptors help to challenge the contexts of deep-rooted ideologies and practices that help to perpetuate institutional inequalities. For example, transformative practices that challenge systems of political ideologies, such as national and state level covenants, can change the power structures and boundaries that exist to maintain systems of education that continually stratify opportunities for students and educators in STEM.

The challenge of disrupting systems, sometimes with unanticipated consequences, raises the possibility of finding new ways to understand why you are a disruptor. Additionally, disruptive positions can simultaneously provide opportunities for transforming or reinforcing structural inequalities in STEM education. From this perspective, being a good disruptor can be camouflaged and lead to being labeled as a troublemaker. However, the rewards of being a good disruptor will lead to expanding the impact of STEM education in more socially transformative ways such as the creation of more welcoming spaces for underrepresented people. As such, it is important to keep in mind that disruptions, as well as being a good disruptor, cannot be enacted as socioculturally neutral or contextually neutral. Interrogating the sociocultural landscape and disruptions of STEM education also draws questions about how and the extent to which new and transformative forms of social and institutional arrangements arise in the presence of disruptive practices. Specifically, it is knowing the context in which you have become a good disruptor that helps you to begin to understand why you are a good disruptor. Good disruptors support the next generation of STEM students and educators and pave the way for the next generation of good disruptors.