Identity-centered making supports simultaneous STEM engagement and identity affirmation for queer youth¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitative r2 · q2 · n=9 queer-identifying youth and allies, ages 10-17, 5-day/15-hour camp
Currency · newest study 2024 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

When a STEM maker space explicitly invites participants to author identity into their design choices, queer youth can experience STEM and identity as mutually reinforcing rather than needing to compartmentalize or choose between them, and may extend that openness to questioning other imposed binary categories.

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Across a 5-day e-textile camp, queer youth invoked varied, shifting STEM-identity labels (designer, maker, tinkerer, scientist, crafter) day to day, and described being able to hold queer and STEM identities together rather than choosing one ("here I can be the weird STEM kid who is also gay"). → Tofel-Grehl et al. 2024

q2 i? Given full autonomy to revise or reject identity categories and to make gender-neutral design choices, several youth spontaneously rejected binary gender framing in their language and artifact choices (e.g., choosing ungendered garments, requesting gender-neutral clothing options). → Tofel-Grehl et al. 2024

Evidence¶

Tofel-Grehl et al. 2024¶

Tofel-Grehl, C., Hawkman, A. M., Feldon, D. F., Suárez, M. I., MacDonald, B. M., & Searle, K. (2024). "I can be the weird STEM kid who is also gay": Queer rightful presence in STEM making. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 33(4-5), 799-842. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2024.2409101

q2 · social design experiment, thematic discourse analysis of fieldnotes, interviews, and participant-authored identity-bead artifacts, no comparison group · i? · the abstract prints no effect size; the full text may · n=9 queer-identifying youth and allies, ages 10-17, 5-day/15-hour camp · qualitative · r2

Researchers ran a 5-day e-textile maker camp using identity-centered e-textile making, with a facilitator team including an openly trans lead. Daily bead-based self-identification activities tracked how participants described their own STEM and gender/sexuality identities over the week. STEM-identity labels shifted often and were largely non-essentialist. Several participants explicitly described the camp as a place where they didn't have to separate being "gay" from being a "STEM kid." Separately, participants — given full design autonomy — increasingly chose gender-neutral materials and designs, and some explicitly rejected the value of binary gender categories in discussion.

Discussion¶

This is a single, short (5-day), self-selected, small-sample (n=9) camp with no comparison group and no standardized measure of STEM learning, identity, or belonging — findings rest on participant-authored artifacts, fieldnotes, and interviews. Participants opted into an already queer-affirming camp, so they may have arrived with more fluid views than a general population; the study cannot separate "the camp changed participants' views" from "the camp gave already-fluid views room to be expressed." The short duration also means nothing is known about whether the reported sense of integrated identity persisted once participants returned to less affirming everyday school/STEM environments.

Learner Variables¶

• Identity — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• (none yet linked)
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