(Re)Negotiating with Materials for STEAM Learning

Abstract: The transdisciplinary space of STEAM has potential to break down disciplinary boundaries to create room for a broad range of learners to participate in new ways of learning and knowing. In this talk, I will think across two research projects that approach designing equitable STEAM learning experiences through negotiating and renegotiating around the materials that play key roles within them. In one project, I argue that there is unique promise in the craft of weaving for supporting broader ways to engage in mathematics. I conducted semi-structured interviews with adult weavers and an intervention designed to expose middleschool youth to the mathematical practices inherent in weaving. I found that understanding math engagement in broader ways makes it possible to better recognize and value youths’ intellectual work. In another project, we examined new and common toolkits for circuitry learning to understand more about the conceptual science learning that is afforded through the kit materials, as well as the patterns of participation that the materials prompted for learners. Together, these projects suggest that the tools and materials chosen for STEAM learning environments guide the types of learning that become possible. Thus, thinking creatively around the tools and materials in these spaces could provide opportunities for broader and deeper learning outcomes.

Dr. Naomi Thompson is an Assistant Professor of Learning Sciences in the Graduate School of Education at the University at Buffalo. She earned her PhD in Learning Sciences from Indiana University and completed a postdoctoral position at Northwestern University in the School of Education and Social Policy. She is interested in the ways crafting, art-making, and other design activities can intersect with and enhance equitable learning in both formal and informal environments. Particularly, she seeks to design educational experiences in ways that highlight and honor voices and practices that are traditionally minoritized and undervalued in educational settings. Learn more about her and her work at www.naomi-thompson.com.