Pedagogies of Joy ;) (Poster 3)

• In Event: Centering Affect and Emotion Toward Justice and Dignity in Science Education

Abstract

Objectives
We conceptualize Pedagogies of Joy (POY, rhymes with joy)—an approach to learning, design, and implementation that creates opportunities for transformative learning. We illustrate POYful learning with 2 data examples.

Framework
Joy is a complex expression of a core human experience. POY supports collective reimagined futures for educators and students towards “genius and joy” (Muhammed, 2023). Joy in learning involves wielding power, creating or “bringing to life,” being oneself, and sharing access to joy (Author, 2017). Joy is resistance, catalyst for building futures, and a human right in the present.

Methods
We draw on exemplars to illustrate POY. We summarize methods in Table 1. We selected clips to support cross-case analytical discussions of designs and implementation using interaction analysis (Jordan & Henderson, 1995) video watching, and collaborative (re)writing.

Table 1. Methods for exemplar cases


Results
We use cross-case analysis of our empirical examples to highlight the relevant POY phenomena in each case.

Case 1: “I’ve got my lab coat for the long way round” | :) | Ayana’s COOL cups song
COOL data illustrate youth authoring joy through POYfully created signature science artifacts. Author1 invited youth to consider how to leave a legacy for next year’s COOL students. They decided on a song.





Figure 1. COOL Song


Ayana’s song referenced specific personal experiences (Figure 1) illustrating her sense of science identity. The cups song is so called because of the red solo cups that singers use to play the rhythm. Ayana was a cups rhythm aficionado, her pride in playing and teaching others brought joy to the afterschool program. With the lyrics Ayana positioned herself as part of the COOL community, a knower, and someone who could define scientific expertise through POYful means by rewriting a song she loved.

Case 2: “I got to yell instructions at you in Korean!” | :'D | Cultural Repertoires in Embodied Teacher Learning as Opportunities for Joy
During an immersive lesson (Loucks-Horsley et al., 2009) in a teacher PD, teachers learned to make acorn jelly or “dotori-mook” (도토리묵) from Author2. Author2 taught the lesson in Korean to model foregrounding diverse cultural and linguistic repertoires in elementary science. In order to help communicate her meaning, Author2 joined as acorn powder and water with a congo-line style dance to encourage teachers to speed up, yelling in Korean, “We have to go faster!” (Figure 2). Bucking stereotypes about Asian-Americans being soft-spoken model minorities, Author2 positioned herself as bold and outspoken.
Figure 2. Joy in acting out making 도토리묵






Author2 described feeling “empowered and excited” during this lesson in which difference became a central resource for POYful learning about a new cultural and scientific phenomenon.

Significance
We offer Pedagogies of Joy as a tool for educators, researchers, and designers to explore how learning communities hold space for challenging discussions about justice, equity and power, deep disciplinary sensemaking, and solidarity across shared and differing experiences. POY is a conceptual and design tool that helps re-integrate aspects of ourselves (e.g., sensemaking, cognition, community, culture, affect, experience, positionality, relationality) in learning.

Authors

• Déana A Scipio, IslandWood

• Sarah Jaewon Lee, University of Washington

• D. Teo Keifert, University of North Texas

• Day W. Greenberg, Indiana University