A Re-Envisioned Multicultural STEM Education for All

Abstract

This conceptual article calls for the transformation of the antiquated educational system into an innovative PreK-12 model that embraces the goals of multicultural education and the pedagogical strategies commonly associated with a holistically integrated STEM curriculum. Teaching STEM through a multicultural lens creates rich opportunities where all students, especially those who have been historically marginalized in STEM fields, can develop identities such as scientists, mathematicians, creative artists, and valued citizens as part of a global team effort. Recommendations are made to educational policymakers, curriculum developers, school administrators, teacher educators, and PreK-12 teachers to collectively create a STEM educational model that is equitable, pluralistic, and a path to social justice.

1. Introduction

In April 2022, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released Science and Engineering in Preschool Through Elementary Grades: The Brilliance of Children and the Strengths of Educators. In this consensus study report, a specialized committee communicated their findings across recent research related to the strengths, interests, and capabilities of preschool and elementary school-aged children in relation to learning science and engineering. The committee then made strong recommendations to various levels of education stakeholders, including preschool and elementary teachers, to equitably and responsively engage all young learners before they lose enthusiasm for and a sense of value in exploring the scientific world around them [1] (NASEM, 2022).

One of the NASEM committee’s two main principles guiding this consensus study report was “working toward equity and justice in society through science and engineering in the early years’’ (p. vii), which requires the acknowledgment of the historical and systemic marginalization of children in science and engineering education based on race, gender, language, neurodiversity, learning differences, and other intersectional identities. Additionally, it necessitates other principles, which the committee calls the Four Approaches to Equity, to be universally practiced:

• Increasing opportunity and access to high-quality science and engineering learning and instruction;
• Emphasizing increased achievement, representation, and identification with science and engineering;
• Expanding what constitutes science and engineering;
• Seeing science and engineering as part of justice movements (p. 23).

Research shows that there has been substantial progress made in regard to the first two approaches, but the committee confirms that fewer efforts have been seen in relation to the third and fourth [1]. This is significant as students of color now represent more than half of the U.S. student population [2]. Furthermore, the effects of globalization will require future generations to increase their awareness of differing global perspectives in STEM to solve complex world problems with solutions firmly rooted in social and environmental justice.

While not explicitly stated in the consensus study report, the four approaches to equitable science and engineering education, starting in early childhood, are closely aligned with other frameworks of multicultural practices in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education. There are multiple perceptions of what STEM education entails. In this article, STEM education is defined as a systems-thinking approach to curriculum design that cohesively weaves multiple subject areas together -both STEM and non-STEM disciplines—to form a problem-posing, inquiry-based, and student-centered approach to real-world learning [3,4,5].

Global STEM education is viewed as necessary for a world that is increasingly reliant on technology and is viewed as “an enabler for development and peace” by the United Nations [6]. Despite calls in the 21st century from various levels of stakeholders, including global organizations such as the United Nations, the World Bank, and UNESCO, to increase diversity in STEM fields, improve science and engineering education starting in early childhood, as well as to increase equity, diversity, and social justice in the classroom, there is scant research on efforts to bridge these two together to champion a STEM education movement that is truly multicultural. This conceptual article attempts to confront the current gap in the literature while also making a more substantive claim: it is time to re-envision education to create a system that promotes more acceptance of and care for others in a pluralistic society and engages students on a path towards social transformation through inquiry and learning. It is time to create a multicultural STEM education for all.

2. The Tenets of Multicultural Education

The overarching goals of multicultural education have evolved since its emergence in the mid-twentieth century [7]. For decades, these goals related to educational policies and practices aimed at improving educational equity, students’ understanding of diverse cultures, and students’ worldviews [8]. While these goals remain intact, the increasing ideological polarization of society and politics, the resurgence of violence from extremists, and the alarming effects of climate change have placed a greater emphasis in recent years on critical multiculturalism that goes beyond the surface level of culture to seek critical awareness, peace, and justice through education.

Equity is the core of multicultural education. This article uses the same definition of equity as Grant and Sleeter: “distributing the personal and professional tools and supports for learning in such a way that all of one’s students benefits” [9] (p. 9). To achieve equity, the root concept of beneficial distribution is applied to other broad facets of education, such as access, representation, and opportunities. Some examples include redesigning curricular materials so that they exhibit more culturally diverse funds of knowledge, training school administrators and faculty on anti-racist pedagogy to extinguish deficit theories, and eliminating school programs that have prohibited historically marginalized students from accessing high-level learning and academic achievement. By taking these actions, in addition to heightening the critical consciousness of school administrators and faculty to dismantle other unjust systems found in schools, from tracking and book bans to discipline disparities and inequitable funding models, schools are actively building equity.

Culturally responsive teaching is closely bound to the goal of educational equity. Geneva Gay defines culturally responsive teaching as “using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant and effective for them” [10] (p. 36). Culturally responsive teachers seek equity by situating themselves as learners of their students to acquire a strong foundational knowledge about their students’ cultural identities to make learning more relevant, teaching content from diverse perspectives, and holding high expectations of all students. These strategies create an equitable learning environment where one cultural group is not taught about—nor to—at the expense of others, so lessons become more engaging and students feel included and validated [10].

When multicultural education was popularized in the United States in the 1960s, it was viewed by and large as a means for helping students of color or bilingual students assimilate into a mainstream society dominated by white English-speaking people [11]. However, this stance has since shifted. In 1993, James A. Banks wrote, “The claim that multicultural education is only for people of color and for the disenfranchised is one of the most pernicious and damaging misconceptions with which the movement has had to cope…When educators view multicultural education as the study of ‘others,’ it is marginalized and kept apart from mainstream education reform” [12] (p. 23). In the 21st century, multicultural education is increasingly discussed as being necessary for all students, regardless of their identity, to prepare them for living in a global society that is rapidly becoming more diverse and interconnected due to the advancements in technology and globalization [13].

Social transformation has long been known as an overarching goal of multicultural education. Banks posits it is necessary for teachers and their students to transform their thinking about the origins of their own community or country, their current place in the world, and the steps that are necessary to become a more democratic and just society. He also recommends that teachers lead students in collectively taking those necessary steps [14]. A classroom that seeks justice, for example, examines societal issues of power and privilege, disrupts misconceptions and untruths that cause discrimination and harm to the environment, and creates a learning environment that promotes agency for change, critical thinking, and open-mindedness [15]. According to Sonia Nieto’s reconceptualization of multicultural education in 2017, this goal has expanded to transform what is taught and how with an emphasis on fostering students’ happiness through genuine care and love. The practice of seeking justice ultimately cultivates a learning environment that is humanistic, holistic, democratic, and participatory [7].

3. Multicultural Education and STEM Disciplines

Multicultural STEM education is not a renowned term in the literature, yet it is rooted in the more widely known pedagogical theories and practices such as culturally responsive pedagogies, social justice education, and multicultural science and mathematics education. Multicultural science and mathematics education sit at the crossroads of their respective disciplines and the cultural aspects of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Not only is the curricular content examined for its cultural influences (or lack thereof), but the instructional and assessment methods are also evaluated to ensure students are equitably represented and academically supported using an array of culturally responsive techniques. Applying the concepts of multicultural education to these respective disciplines ensures that all students, and especially those from underrepresented or systemically marginalized groups, are engaged and can see themselves as future problem solvers or inquirers of the scientific world around them [16].

3.1. Multicultural Science Education

Science education has had many hurdles to overcome to become more diverse and inclusive and, consequently, was one of the last disciplines to embrace multicultural education [17]. Less than 15 years ago, Lee and Buxton stated that topics related to diversity, equity, and multiculturalism were still relatively new to scientific educational research [18]. Historically, science has been taught from a Western colonial perspective anchored in knowledge collected and disseminated by white men. Rodriguez and Bell refer to this as the WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) perspective [19]. This includes educational materials (e.g., textbooks) and assessments which were also developed and norm-referenced for white children, especially boys [13,20]. Over time, these issues contributed to a system where students who do not identify as white and male have been at a clear disadvantage when taught science.

There is a noticeable link between a curriculum developed for students who identify as neurotypical, able-bodied, English-speaking, white, and male and teachers’ lowered expectations of all other students in science. “A considerable body of research describes how students in [marginalized] categories are asked fewer and lower-level questions, are provided with less critical feedback, are then assigned easier tasks, and are given less acknowledgment of their success” [20] (p. 16). This adds to other issues related to the inequitable state of science education, such as students experiencing decreased self-efficacy in science [21,22], the presence of stereotype threats [23], and an overall lower interest in science as a future career [24].

Multicultural science educators and scholars have expressed concerns with the widely used science curricular materials that foster such inequities in science. First, teachers report that the language is often technical and unfamiliar to students, which makes the content difficult to be understood, especially by culturally and linguistically diverse students [25,26]. Additionally, materials often lack diverse perspectives and cultural ways of knowing science beyond the Western colonial perspectives that have dominated the field for centuries. Finally, and more concerningly, science textbooks and curricular materials avoid issues related to environmental justice matters and have been found to skirt topics such as human-related causes of climate change [27]. These materials that are politically motivated or inaccurate hinder educators’ abilities to teach science in humane, transparent, and scientifically accurate ways.

Multicultural science scholars seek to improve science pedagogy commonly found in public schools, which has also played a role in the systemic minoritization of students of color, females, and students with disabilities. According to Meyer and Crawford, “Science education has largely been unsuccessful in reaching ELL [English Language Learners], Latino, Native American, African-American and other non-mainstream student groups, who remain underrepresented in the field of science” [28] (p. 528). Professional development in this area has been targeted at supporting teachers in critically evaluating what “counts” as science and aligning their teaching to their diverse students’ funds of knowledge [29]. The multicultural science movement also advocates for teaching methods rooted in inquiry-based strategies, place-based learning, and the nature of science (NOS) to engage more students from diverse cultures and to increase the relevancy of science in their lives.

3.2. Multicultural Mathematics Education

Multicultural mathematics was born out of the field of ethnomathematics [30] and the attempt to make mathematical reasoning and conceptual understanding more accessible to students. Multicultural mathematics is concerned with contextualizing math problems rather than teaching rote memorization. Teachers have found that teaching mathematics through the medium of storytelling with relevant contexts lifts barriers to understanding a subject area that has been traditionally taught through formal algorithms, abstract facts, and processes [31].

In addition to teaching mathematics through contextual problems, teachers are called upon to teach from various perspectives and historical viewpoints. In Rethinking Mathematics, Gutstein and Peterson call for mathematics to be taught solely through a social justice lens to increase students’ awareness of injustices around the globe while developing skills that will help them to understand the world more clearly [32]. “Before students can participate in rich mathematical experiences, teachers must understand diverse worldviews of mathematics, know the historical sequence of mathematical developments, appreciate how cultures have applied their knowledge of mathematics, and come to know and understand how their students learn” [13] (p. 44). While this is a pinnacle of multicultural mathematics, this recommendation has drawn criticism in the past as most mainstream curricular resources do not include globally diverse explanations of mathematical concepts, requiring teachers to find supplemental materials or create their own. Still, teaching mathematics through multicultural perspectives increases opportunities to develop connections between topics, promotes students’ critical thinking, and provides added layers of context from diverse cultures to enrich mathematical understanding or make lessons more relevant.

Many projects sponsored by equity-seeking STEM organizations and collaboratives (i.e., Girls Who Code, Math in Cultural Context, Reach for the Sky, The Algebra Project, TODOS: Mathematics Education for All) have showcased the positive effects of culturally responsive curriculum and instruction implemented in STEM disciplines. The Algebra Project, for example, has made profound impacts on students of color for nearly 50 years. Not only does the curriculum provide validation and affirmation for marginalized students living in communities of color through its highly engaging curricular resources, but it also helps students “move from arithmetic to algebraic thinking; placing a high value on student peer culture and collaborations; and connecting math literacy to social justice by having students actively engage in sociopolitical activism” [10] (p. 189). This project serves as an example that demonstrates how historically marginalized students can gain societal power, opportunity, and equity through a STEM curriculum that is designed with multicultural goals.

4. Calling for a Re-Envisioned Multicultural STEM Education

Multicultural STEM education is founded on the same principles as multicultural science and mathematics. Yet, it is also a unique discipline that draws from the goals and pedagogical practices from both multicultural education and STEM to teach an anti-racist and anti-bias curriculum that represents cultural diversity, promotes justice, and encourages all students to solve real-world concerns facing the global majority. Much of the literature on this topic focuses on culturally responsive strategies through which educators prioritize becoming familiar with their students’ backgrounds to design more relevant and effective STEM lessons that build on students’ interests, strengths, and funds of knowledge [10]. Culturally responsive STEM instruction has a positive impact on students, especially those from systemically marginalized populations [33]. Yet, making lessons more engaging and inclusive through culturally responsive strategies is only one approach to meeting the goals of multicultural STEM education.

4.1. A Call for STEM Education That Is Equitable

Achieving equity in STEM has been a multi-layered issue for many international jurisdictions since the inception of the popularized acronym in the early 21st century. In the United States, for example, while individuals who have been historically underrepresented in STEM (i.e., Black, Indigenous, and Latinx groups) make up approximately 31% of the entire national workforce, they only comprise 20% of STEM jobs [34]. According to the European Commission, the European Union has witnessed a positive shift towards more gender equity in STEM fields in recent years; however, women are still underrepresented in the STEM workforce and STEM research. Additionally, women continue to experience poorer working conditions and fewer career advancement opportunities than men [35]. Gender inequality also significantly impacts women across Asia, who have historically relied on women’s networks, or “hidden gems”, instead of the educational system to personally advance in STEM fields [36]. To increase the diversity of race, ethnicity, and gender identity in STEM fields, PreK-12 STEM education around the globe must become more accessible and inclusive through equity measures.

Due to the lack of instructional time devoted to STEM during the traditional school day, summer camps and afterschool programs have frequently been utilized as a means for introducing PreK-12 (early childhood through secondary levels of education) students to STEM, and an increasing number of these programs exclusively target underrepresented students each year. However, extracurricular programming can only be viewed as a superficial solution at best that reaches some—not all—students in a population. Starting in early childhood, all students should have regular access to integrated STEM lessons that are engaging, promote critical thinking, and represent diverse peoples and global perspectives. This article calls for a transformation of how subject matter is currently taught, starting in primary grades, from siloed time blocks to fully integrated interdisciplinary units where students apply STEM knowledge and skills while also learning English Language Arts, social studies, art, music, and physical education. Transforming the antiquated school schedule into one of STEM integration promotes higher student engagement through relevant real-world problem solving, practical application of skills and literacy across disciplines, and the development of 21st-century competencies that are needed in the STEM workforce [37]. In the 2022 consensus study report, the NASEM committee recommends the adoption of interdisciplinary approaches to increase instructional time for students in science and engineering to meet the Four Approaches to Equity [1]. This article is further calling upon education systems to re-envision their current school schedules; invest in the development of innovative, multicultural, and interdisciplinary curricula; and train educators to teach multiple subjects through culturally responsive and integrative methods.

Mainstream STEM curricular materials developed by Western nations have historically reflected what matters most to the dominant societal group, including cultural references, political influences, and ways of understanding the world. These materials have been exported to schools all over the world, including Indigenous and minority ethnic groups in non-Western nations [38]. While minor curricular modifications are made to better reflect the ethnic majority groups living in East Asia, for instance, students from Indigenous or minority ethnic communities are learning from an unrepresentative curriculum comprised of approximately 90% Western science content and 10% Indigenous science knowledge [39]. Initially, STEM classroom materials developed by Western nations were designed for white students and featured individuals or characters who represented those students. They also typically present one way of knowing. Consequently, negative bias, stereotypes, and deficit views of students from traditionally marginalized cultures permeated STEM education. While efforts have increased in recent years to improve diverse representation in STEM curricular materials, these have been widely superficial. To mitigate issues of unbalanced power and inequity, STEM educational resources must go beyond surface-level modifications to authentically embrace global diversity and cultural relevance.

One strategy for diversifying the STEM curriculum is to create lessons based on students’ own funds of knowledge. Funds of knowledge are defined by Moll and colleagues as “historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual function and well-being” [40] (p. 133). To identify these funds of knowledge, multicultural teachers often conduct home visits to learn more about family activities that form young learners’ generalized understanding of the world. Teachers may study family values (e.g., caring for elders), household chores (e.g., cooking), educational activities (e.g., going to museums), or families’ scientific knowledge (e.g., sustainable living practices) to create diverse lessons that represent their students’ funds of knowledge [40]. This method of personalizing curriculum and instruction allows all students to see the relevance in what they are learning as well as to celebrate their ways of knowing as unique [31]. According to Denton and Borrego, connecting culture to students’ home lives within STEM learning environments may remove pre-existing barriers, thus promoting equity while diversifying the curriculum [41].

This article calls upon PreK-12 school administrators and teachers to prioritize schoolwide collaborations with families to feature their diverse funds of knowledge as a part of their multicultural STEM curriculum. This may include interviewing families for curriculum development or inviting extended family members into the school to co-facilitate in-class PBL units or afterschool STEM events. To develop an authentic multicultural STEM curriculum, schools should also look to working members of the community and elders, as these groups have a wealth of knowledge and experience that are invaluable to developing a curriculum that is culturally situated, relevant, and engaging for young children. By enveloping the school’s diverse community as part of its curriculum design, schools actively take strides towards increased representation and achievement in STEM, thus addressing the NASEM’s second approach to equity.

4.2. A Call for STEM Education That Is Pluralistic

As stated previously, the literature on the topic of making STEM education more equitable and diverse is primarily concerned with increasing cultural responsiveness in the classroom. Bringing students’ diverse backgrounds into curricular and instructional decisions is paramount for highly effective teaching. However, if teachers solely focus on improving their culturally responsive practices, they are not preparing students to thrive in a multicultural society. A re-envisioned multicultural STEM education is culturally responsive, and it also goes a step further by teaching from diverse perspectives, providing opportunities to solve problems using multiple ways of knowing, and developing empathy and tolerance through collaboration and a climate of care.

To fully champion a movement that prepares learners for a pluralistic world, a re-envisioned multicultural STEM education decolonizes current curricula that center Western colonial perspectives above others. Despite its significant role in better understanding the natural world in which we live, Indigenous scientific knowledge has been limited to being taught in extracurricular educational programs thus far. Mandating the inclusion of Indigenous ways of knowing in PreK-12 schools going forward will arguably provide the necessary opportunities for all students of all backgrounds to explore the holistic connection between humans and the environment. Projects such as studying Indigenous-led resistance movements that are combating fossil fuel extraction projects, for instance, provide additional benefits such as developing the critical lens necessary for students to understand the man-made causes and effects of climate change. Re-envisioning the curriculum to decenter whiteness and to incorporate global perspectives and Indigenous ways of knowing meets the NASEM’s call to expand what constitutes science and substantially prepares students for a more pluralistic society.

Educators have an extraordinary opportunity before them to utilize multicultural STEM education as a vehicle for building a tolerant society that prioritizes empathy and care. Nieto’s reconceptualization of multicultural education in 2017 emphasized teaching from a place of care and love. The re-envisioned multicultural STEM education being proposed in this article not only heeds Nieto’s recommendation but is also rooted in the ethics of care [42] for the sake of building a genuine pluralistic learning environment. Multicultural STEM pedagogy cultivates relationship building and care for others through frequent student collaboration, open communication, and real-world problem solving that requires the practice of receptive listening and empathetic skills. Creating a climate of care in the classroom also places emphasis on learning experiences, not academic outcomes (i.e., grades), and cooperation, not competition [43]. Care, therefore, should be considered a critical component of school transformation that is needed to develop citizens for an increasingly pluralistic society and can be achieved through multicultural STEM education.

This article calls on educational policy makers and STEM curriculum developers to take a less superficial approach to diversifying STEM learning materials. First, curriculum standards should provide opportunities for students to explore the natural scientific world through multiple ways of knowing. Secondly, future materials should counterbalance Western colonial scientific thought with scientific knowledge and contributions from members of the global community [19]. Finally, schools would benefit from following Nieto’s reconceptualization of multicultural education and shifting their culture to one centered in love and genuine care for others to achieve a greater good for all students and the future society into which they are joining [7].

4.3. A Call for STEM Education as a Path to Justice

In 1970, critical multiculturalist Paulo Friere called for a problem-posing education to seek justice, liberation, and humanism. This pedagogical model, used frequently in STEM, encourages students to think critically and ask deep questions (such as why, why not, and how) about phenomena that interest them or relate to the topic of study. In a multicultural STEM curriculum, students engage in this learning model to pose problems about the world or about themselves in relation to the world. Their interest in solving the problem increases as they feel more empowered, challenged, or obliged to act [44].

Problem-posing education and related pedagogical models (e.g., inquiry-based learning) are highly effective in integrated STEM classes, especially as a means for students to analyze meaningful issues related to social injustice. While this has been much more evident in secondary grade levels, PreK-8 educators are starting to be introduced to social justice in STEM and, consequently, learning to integrate problem posing in their instructional strategies [45]. As more and more teachers adopt problem-posing strategies as part of their multicultural STEM curriculum, students will have more opportunities throughout their educational career to apply content-area skills as well as other skills such as critical thinking, empathetic listening, and collaborative problem solving to local or global issues that matter to them. This meets the NASEM’s fourth approach to equity: seeing science and engineering as part of justice movements.

The problem-posing curriculum that is taught using place-based methods can serve as an even wider path to justice. To make STEM more relevant to their students’ lived experiences, teachers may employ place-based methods to create a familiar backdrop for learning that is set in their students’ communities or local environments. Doing this has been found to promote students’ overall interest and engagement in what they are learning and a greater sense of connection to where they live [46], which is needed to enact change. Place-based learning has also been found to mitigate educational inequalities experienced by systemically marginalized students living in oppressed communities [47]. Place-based methods require teachers to have a certain level of knowledge of their students, their families, the school community, and the local environment; therefore, Calabrese Barton & Berchini recommend establishing partnerships with community stakeholders and families, incorporating students’ funds of knowledge in the curriculum, and becoming an insider where one teaches.

To fulfill the multicultural goals of social transformation and justice, students should be engaged in authentic lessons based on real-world issues such as poverty, water conservation, civil rights, the climate crisis, human rights, and more. Furthermore, students should be empowered to apply science, engineering, and mathematics principles to find and propose solutions for them. To motivate students to enact change in their local communities, teachers should utilize place-based methods to leverage students’ sense of place and community. To support this, this article calls on teacher educators to weave goals of social justice education into all teacher preparation programs, especially STEM methods courses. This article also calls on educational policymakers, curriculum developers, and school administrators to recognize and value these teaching methods as paths toward student empowerment and social justice. Not only do these stakeholders hold the keys to creating a curriculum that promotes critical thinking, empathy, and necessary STEM skills in today’s children, but they also wield the power to create a more just society.

5. Calls for Action and Concluding Thoughts

This conceptual article proposes a re-envisioned educational model that infuses the goals of multicultural education into an integrated STEM curriculum starting in early childhood. It also calls for immediate action from several key educational stakeholders to re-envision the PreK-12 educational system to intentionally and equitably prepare today’s students for tomorrow: (1) educational policy makers and school administrations are called upon to reconfigure the typical school day from subjects taught in isolated time blocks to fully integrated interdisciplinary STEM units; (2) school administrators and educators are called upon to initiate schoolwide collaborations with families, elders, and community leaders to develop authentic multicultural STEM lessons that feature diverse students’ funds of knowledge; (3) educational policymakers and curriculum developers are called upon to immediately decolonize current curricular standards and materials and, going forward, diversify the cultural ways of knowing that are taught, especially in STEM; (4) teacher educators and school administrators are called upon to ensure tomorrow’s educators are well-informed and trained on topics such as culturally responsive pedagogies, anti-bias and anti-racist teaching, integrated STEM methods, and place-based learning; (5) school administrators are called upon to take the necessary steps (i.e., launch new school policies and teacher training) to create a climate of care in their schools; and (6) teacher educators, educational policymakers, curriculum developers, and school administrators are called upon to take action that increases students empowerment and contribution to social justice in the classroom.

The 2022 NASEM consensus study report states that the changes that are needed are too heavy a lift for educators to bear alone. In accordance with that statement, this collective call to action is being amplified toward administrative leaders, district-level leaders, curriculum designers, and policymakers in education. Working in tandem, it is time for these stakeholders to begin taking steps towards developing multicultural STEM learning opportunities that will transform education systems to equitably prepare all students, especially historically marginalized students, to thrive in a global society. Any educational agency, from international jurisdictions to local-level school districts, that is interested in answering these calls for action can begin by conferring with educational researchers and curriculum specialists to design an innovative multicultural STEM curriculum; apply for grant-funded programs such as Erasmus + in the European Union, YOU Belong in STEM in the United States, or the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF); and pilot this innovative pathway forward in education. Teaching STEM through a multicultural lens will meet this call by creating an education system where all students, especially the increasing global majority, see themselves as future problem-solvers and build a vested interest in what they are studying as global citizens.