Youth as Pattern Makers for Racial Justice: Speculative Design Pedagogy in Science Toward Restorative Futures (Poster 10)

• In Event: Designing for Racial Justice Through Speculative Pedagogies: Learning to Build Liberatory Futures

Abstract

Background: In this social design research project, we investigate the development of youth sociopolitical consciousness and agency in an eighth-grade science classroom. We follow Black, Brown, and Indigenous youths’ cultural learning pathways (Bell et al., 2012) through critical speculative design activities, as they grapple with the multi-scalar, racial realities and possibilities of the science and engineering of lightwaves and melanin in computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Rejecting racist, colonial enactments of STEM, we inquire into how critical speculative design pedagogy (CSDP) can promote strategies for culturally sustaining science instruction. We explore the following questions:
1. How can school-based science learning environments support the critical speculative design pursuits of middle school Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth?
2. What socio-technical patterning processes do Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth develop and engage in as they imagine critical futures of light and computer vision technologies in society (e.g., for facial recognition, medical diagnosis, and more)?
Framework: We utilize CSDP as a guide for teachers to design for and decipher manifestations of youth learning outside of normative science. The CSDP principles are centered on community, anti-racism, liberatory expression, and civic engagement: consequential concern (Sanchez, in press), kindred relationality, critical and liberatory presencing (Sanchez, in press), constellar knowledges, and futurity play.

Methods: With the teachers, we integrated CSDP into the curricular unit. We studied 158 youths’ learning pathways ethnographically across three instructional phases: threading practices (learners’ sociopolitical interpretation); weaving practices (learners’ coordination of multiple ways of knowing and being in relation to their interpretation); and patternmaking practices (learners’ visions of more just patterns, practices, and politics through speculative design). We inductively identified thematic dimensions within and across those phases, and then categorized students’ work and noticings chronologically. Using a sociocultural lens, we analyzed emotional dimensions of liberatory learning and speculative design. We also took a critical media ethnographic approach in their culminating work.

Findings: We share the ethnographic case stories of two Black girls (ES and GS). The findings illustrate how youth actively utilize their felt, cultural, and community knowledge alongside their developing scientific understanding of physics to identify and analyze manifestations of racial bias within technologies. The study underscores the critical role of teachers in providing pedagogical support and creating opportunities for transdisciplinary science investigations, which enables students to engage in transformative, relational learning experiences.

Significance: With this research, we introduce the Critical Speculative Design Pedagogy framework. By offering opportunities for transdisciplinary investigations with CSDP, teachers can desettle traditional western science education, and cultivate expansive, consequential science education that resonates with youth. ES and GS’ stories highlight the significance of offering space for youth to share their voice and expertise, to analyze and challenge racial biases, and advocate for more just and thriving futures for themselves and their communities.

Authors

• Kathleen Arada, University of Washington

• Anastasia S. Sanchez, Puget Sound Education Service District

• Philip L. Bell, University of Washington