Echoes of the Unheard: Learning Through Playce-Making to Foster Meaning Making and Creativity in STEM Education

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: Transforming Social Spaces Toward Equity and Justice (Table 23)

Abstract

In this study, we explored the emergence of personal meaning-making and creativity to go beyond productivity in STEM education. We investigated learners’ meaning-making in the context of an interest-driven participatory game-design project where immersive learning and playce-making (constructing playful experiences linked to a place) intersected in Career and Technology Foundations class. Taking a qualitative approach, we collected data from nine graders in a suburban junior-high school in Western Canada. Drawing from constructivist perspectives, we discuss how learners within a group demonstrated personal meaning-making and creativity when they were immersed in playce-making. Our findings suggest that the intersection of immersive learning and playce-making can support learners curate their own learning experiences by integrating personal meanings and lived experiences into their project.

Authors

• Farzan Baradaran Rahimi, Grant MacEwan University

• Beaumie Kim, University of Calgary