STEA²M camp at the Orchard: A community cultural wealth approach

ABSTRACT

Schools often fail to offer minoritized student groups access to quality STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education experiences. While policymakers should systemically address this curriculum gap problem, out-of-school educational programs offer an important way to provide quality STEM instruction while integrating students’ communities in culturally sustaining ways. This article describes one such program. The Orchard Community Learning Center operates as an urban farm in south Phoenix. Students engage in hands-on, project-based STEA²M (science, technology, engineering, arts, agriculture, and math) learning through a bilingual program that employs the framework of community cultural wealth. This framework recognizes the aspirational, linguistic, familial, social, navigational, and resistant capital that communities of color possess. The programs at the Orchard draw heavily on the students’ and their families’ capital in these areas and integrate them into the curriculum through culturally sustaining pedagogies. The work of urban agriculture at the Orchard provides a context for students to engage in authentic STEA²M learning through a curriculum developed in response to their interests and cultural backgrounds.