Lessons Learned in Empowering Teams: a Necessary Training Primer for STEM Researchers Engaging in Educational Research

Abstract Information:
The National Science Foundation (NSF), other agencies, and nonprofits fund educational programs and research that involve collaborations between social scientists and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educators and researchers.  These activities often require teambuilding and collaboration between the social scientists and STEM educators and researchers.  Limited experiences with social science research may leave these STEM educators and researchers ill-equipped to understand the importance of amplifying and empowering the voices and lived experiences of all team members and study populations.  For STEM educators and researchers, the role that this plays in project success should be directly related to scientific principles used in STEM research.
As external evaluators on an NSF Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) project, we observed significant barriers and challenges within the team building process and within the team throughout the project.  Throughout the project, the STEM educators and researchers failed to amplify and empower the voices of not only their team members, but also the study population.  Although all team members completed Institutional Research Board (IRB) training, it appears insufficient for translating this guidance into practice because amplifying and empowering the voices of team members, students, and study population requires perspective taking and critically examining one’s actions and beliefs.  The training failures may also link the participants’ difficulty contextualizing this training based on their typical STEM research that may directly consider individuals or groups of people.
STEM educators and researchers will likely benefit from a primer at the beginning of the project that provides training to circumvent many of the threats to a successful team that we observed.  This training should include many basic principles within social science research and the related protocols and ethics associated with engaging in social science research.  This training must be adapted to illustrate adhering and deviating from these principles using STEM examples that align with the STEM educators’ and researchers’ lived experiences.  This improved contextualization may allow them to recognize the consequences of their actions and beliefs more clearly.  For example, a microaggression may be presented as an attendee at a presentation who asks questions in a way that tries to indicate that the presented research may be flawed or invalid.
Collaborations between social scientists and STEM educators and researchers require care and nurturing to ensure that all team members’ voices are amplified and empowered.  More effective team launching requires demystifying the contributions of all team members and establishing communication and interaction protocols and practices that emphasize the amplifying and empowering the voices and lived experiences of all team members and study populations.  Evaluators can provide the training and guidance necessary to place these teams on a pathway to success.