The Dialogical Relationship Between Materials and Participants in STEAM

• In Event: Materiality and Sociomaterial Practices in Learning, Designing, and Making

Abstract

Purpose
People often associate materials with particular disciplines and practices. For example, a glass flask is often associated with science and used in scientific experiments for measuring and mixing substances. In previous work, we found that 4-7th grade girls saw specialized materials of science being used for almost predetermined ends, limiting the types of activities or practices that the girls engaged in with those materials (Authors, under review). However, through doing STEAM activities, the girls’ ideas about materiality changed. Building on this work, here we investigate materiality in STEAM activities with adults to investigate the following question: How do materials shape how participants use the materials and vice versa?
Perspectives
Ingold (2011) argues that materials are not fixed, but rather their meaning is made as they are used. It is in the process of creating or making that we draw out the potential of materials through our interactions and relations with them (Ingold, 2013). Therefore, it is our experiences and connections to the materials themselves from which we can draw meaning.
Methods and data sources
The context for this study is a two day, in-person professional development program for informal educators. We analyze the interactions between the educators and the materials in an activity called suminagashi, which uses a process of paper marbling developed in Japan. We analyze the video to examine the relationship and dialogue that occurs between participants and materials.
Results and substantiated conclusions
What would traditionally be considered art materials, such as paint brushes and inks, are used in this activity to support experimenting and observation, which are traditionally considered science practices. We show how examining the dialectical relationship between material and human actors can help us understand how STEAM supports integrative thinking across science and art (Authors, under review).
Librarians explore materials for suminagashi, which consisted of ink, a bin of water, paint brushes of various sizes, and paper. In one instance, Martha and Leah experiment with the inks and how they behave in water. They observe that the yellow ink spreads out when dropped into the water. Martha suggests that they try a different color ink, green with the same brush, and finds that it does not spread like the yellow ink. They share their observations and hypotheses about whether the brush or some property of the ink causing the spreading. This episode shows the dialogic relationship between materials, people, and practices. As the materials react, the participants respond by experimenting with materials (e.g., try different colors, brushes) to further explore the materials.
Scholarly significance
As Ingold (2011) argues, materials do not have objective uses apart from the purposes to which they are being put to use. There is a dialogic relationship between materials and participants who engage with materials. The materials shape how participants engage with them in a dialogic relationship. We argue that it is essential to consider the role that materials play, as agentic players, in participant learning and how learning environments are structured to allow for “reflective conversations” (Schön, 1992).

Authors

• Blakely K. Tsurusaki, University of Washington Bothell

• Carrie T. Tzou, University of Washington - Bothell

• Laura Carsten Conner, University of Alaska Fairbanks