Youth Hanging Out and "Making Do": Social Practices for Navigating Information While Making

• In Event: 31.068 - Multiple Perspectives on Out-of-School Learning

Abstract

We explore how youth make sense of information and representations in STEM-rich making. Youth engaged in inquiry utilize rich repertoires of practice to understand the tasks and challenges they face. Conventional STEM representations can be unwelcoming to youth from nondominant communities, and they must “make do” in order to contend with the information needed for making. Using a literacies perspective, we explore socializing as an everyday practice that supports youth in employing “tactics” (de Certeau, 1984) to navigate complex information. We find youth use socializing to initiate collaborative forms of inquiry and sense making. Using comparative case studies, we explore the dimensions of youths’ everyday practices as resources for engaging in STEM-rich activities to expand views of legitimate disciplinary practices.

Authors

• Brian E. Gravel, Tufts University

• Eli Tucker-Raymond, TERC