Measuring Perceptions of Equity in a Museum-Based Maker Space

• In Event: Millennium Hotel Roundtable Session 17
  In Roundtable Session: Meaning Making and Perspective Taking in Learning Environments

Abstract

The Black Creativity Innovation Studio is a maker space in a large, urban science museum. While there is an established literature base about lack of equity in maker spaces, there is little research about “…how the maker movement might address equity concerns broadly.” (Barton, Tan & Greenberg, 2016). This study represents an attempt to measure aspects of equity in a makerspace in a way that can be broadly deployed. A framework based on four principles assembled from the literature was used to develop a methodology that involved feedback from guests, educators, facilitators and researchers using surveys, diaries and observation rubrics. Using this new methodology, we found significant differences in how groups responded to facilitation in particular.

Authors

• C. Aaron Price, Museum of Science and Industry - Chicago

• Gloria Alicia Segovia, Museum of Science and Industry - Chicago