Feeling a Goodness of Fit: Clothing and Comfort in Early Childhood STEM (Poster 7)

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

Abstract

Objectives
The feeling that you fit in—that there is room being made for you, that you will feel safe and cared for—is often accomplished through the body (Ahmed, 2012). The body is an important site to explore affects, because, according to Zembylas (2007), “the ways in which we understand, experience, perform, and talk about emotions are highly related to our sense of body” (p. 64). This paper addresses affect through bodily comfort and attends closely to the role of clothing in how children feel they “fit” in a STEM learning environment.

Theoretical Framework
Drawing on cultural studies of comfort (Price et al., 2021) and feminist perspectives on the body (Ahmed, 2012), this study investigates how children find ways of fitting into early computer science. Clothing has been an important object of study for understanding links between comfort, the body, identity, and belonging; sartorial comfort can confer a sense of fitting in a social group while simultaneously fitting on one’s body (Garland-Thomas, 2011). Conversely, the feeling body that wears clothes can have a corporeal sense that it does not quite fit in spaces designed for science learning, or is not a good fit for the discipline (Jaber & Hammer, 2015).

Methods
This study is part of a larger project developing early childhood STEM curriculum and assessment (Authors, 2021; 2023) in which we partnered with Kindergarten classrooms in a semirural district of the western US. The research team taught small groups of children (n=48) to code using tangible programming toys during floor-based STEM rotation activities. Our analysis of video data (24 hours) and fieldnotes highlights bodily interactions, space, movement, and the material environment as critical contributors to shared meaning-making (Goodwin & Cekaite, 2018; Jordan & Henderson, 1996).

Results
We found that children, especially those identified as girls by parents or teachers, worked to establish “comfort zones” while they learned to code on the classroom floor. While clothing was not the sole source of comfort, it was an important dimension identified in our broader findings. Winter boots and socks, jewelry, and wet pants all contributed to how children created comfort zones in the areas designated for STEM activities. We highlight the activity of a girl named Theresa, who engaged in substantial “boot work,” enabling her to feel a good fit in the space and ready to learn.

Significance
Clothing can be a salient source of discomfort which aggravates some bodies more than others. Theresa was skilled at coding while getting comfortable, reminding us of the extra work it takes for some bodies to be comfortable within teaching and learning paradigms that are not necessarily designed for them to fit in (Ahmed, 2012). Attending to the goodness of fit between bodies and worlds is a crucial aspect of justice-oriented STEM teaching and learning. Studying young children’s bodily affects and sartorial comfort is a reminder to look beyond starched white lab coats to reconsider how bodies feel a goodness of fit in science.

Authors

• Deborah Silvis, SUNY - College at Cortland

• Jody E. Clarke-Midura, Utah State University

• Jessica F. Shumway, Utah State University

• Victor R. Lee, Stanford University