ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I explore how high school students of color become empowered as learners and doers of scientific research through participation in a summer science program. Specifically, I examine how youth develop epistemic agency when engaging in an air quality research project in their community and how this supports identity construction in science. I define epistemic agency as mobilizing the knowledge and practices of a discipline to shape the knowledge and practices of a community. I build from the conceptualization of knowledge production, agency and societal positioning as inter-related (Dotson, 2012, 2014) to explore what is possible when youth of color are empowered to engage in authentic science knowledge making within and for a community. I use case studies to illustrate how developing epistemic agency is a generative process deeply intertwined with aspects of identity. Key to this process is program design and organization that offers new roles and ways for youth to participate in science, thus supporting shifts in how they see themselves in relation to science. I demonstrate how youths’ epistemic agency is elevated by the importance of their research across program and local community contexts.
