Equitably Consequential Making among Youth from Historically Marginalized Communities

作为在非正式环境中加强学习的总体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)计划为各种环境中使用的创新研究、方法和资源提供资金。很少有经验性研究表明，随着时间的推移，青年持续参与以STEM为导向的发展，如何支持青年致力于更有力的STEM相关项目，关于来自历史上被边缘化社区的青年进行这种经历的结果，或关于创造支持这些目标的经验的设计特点的经验研究。该项目计划开展一系列研究，以制定：一个以理论为基础、以数据为驱动的公平结果决策框架；一套相关的个人一级和方案一级的案例和范例(以及相关的挑战)，可供研究人员和从业人员用来指导实地工作；以及一套初步的指导原则(带有指标)，用于确定实践中的公平后果决策。该项目将形成一个具有公平后果的框架和实施的指导原则，这将有助于为促进所有青年，特别是那些在STEM历史上任职人数不足的青年提供更多的学习机会提供基础设施。通过研究，该项目寻求在以STEM为导向的制作者、研究人员和青年中培养围绕公平结果制作者运动的能力，以扩大制作者的普遍规范，为青年争取更具变革性的成果。项目研究将以几个问题为指导。在创造空间方面，年轻人(在当下和随着时间的推移)学到了什么，做了什么，以支持公平的创造？创客空间的设计特点是支持(或反对)年轻人以同等重要的方式进行创作？青年在不同环境和时间范围内建立STEM的个人和社区结果是什么？公平结果产生的最显著的指标是什么，它们是如何形成的，这些指标在实践中如何确定？该项目将采用访谈研究和关键的纵向人种学，并嵌入青年参与性个案研究方法来研究这些问题。这项研究将通过研究-实践伙伴关系进行，涉及密歇根州立大学、北卡罗来纳大学格林斯伯勒分校以及兰辛和格林斯伯勒的4个地方、STEM和面向青年的空间，这些空间服务于STEM中历史上代表性不足的群体，特别关注来自低收入和非裔美国人背景的青年。

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative research, approaches and resources for use in a variety of settings. There are few empirical studies of sustained youth engagement in STEM-oriented making over time, how youth are supported in working towards more robust STEM related projects, on the outcomes of such making experiences among youth from historically marginalized communities, or on the design features of making experiences which support these goals. The project plans to conduct a set of research studies to develop: a theory-based and data-driven framework for equitably consequential making; a set of related individual-level and program-level cases with exemplars (and the associated challenges) that can be used by researchers and practitioners for guiding the field; and an initial set of guiding principles (with indicators) for identifying equitably consequential making in practice. The project will result in a framework for equitably consequential making with guiding principles for implementation that will contribute to the infrastructure for fostering increased opportunities to learn among all youth, especially those historically underrepresented in STEM. Through research, the project seeks to build capacity among STEM-oriented maker practitioners, researchers and youth in the maker movement around equitably consequential making to expand the prevailing norms of making towards more transformative outcomes for youth. Project research will be guided by several questions. What do youth learn and do (in-the-moment and over time) in making spaces that work to support equity in making? What maker space design features support (or work against) youth in making in equitably consequential ways? What are the individual and community outcomes youth experience in STEM-making across settings and time scales? What are the most salient indicators of equitably consequential making, how do they take shape, how can these indicators be identified in practice? The project will research these questions using interview studies and critical longitudinal ethnography with embedded youth participatory case study methodologies. The research will be conducted in research-practice partnerships involving Michigan State University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and 4 local, STEM- and youth-oriented making spaces in Lansing and Greensboro that serve historically underrepresented groups in STEM, with a specific focus on youth from lower-income and African American backgrounds.