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Identity-Centered E-Textile Making

Design · All designs
Evidence · 1 claim (1 mixed) · 1 study (1 qualitative), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

Participants design and build wearable, functional e-textile objects (bracelets, badges, clothing) using sewable conductive thread, LEDs, and simple microcontrollers, where circuit design is explicitly bound up with identity expression rather than treated as separate from it. The sequence starts with a low-barrier entry project (e.g., a paper-circuit pronoun/name placard) that centers self-naming while teaching basic circuit function, then progresses to increasingly open-ended projects where participants exercise full autonomy over materials, colors, and form to encode aspects of their identity into the artifact.

Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Facilitated space at the start for participants to co-construct and name identity categories that matter to them, in their own terms
  • Low-barrier entry activities that don't gate STEM participation on prior technical knowledge
  • Facilitators who model identity fluidity themselves (e.g., openly holding multiple identities relevant to the group)

Constraints

Target Goals

  • Supporting STEM engagement and identity affirmation as mutually reinforcing rather than requiring learners to choose between or compartmentalize them

Target Learners

  • Studied with queer-identifying youth and allies ages 10-17; the underlying design logic (identity as a legitimate design input, not a distraction from STEM) is not intrinsically limited to that population

Theory

Supporting

  • Rightful Presence — the pattern operationalizes rightful presence by treating self-authored identity as a design resource rather than something to set aside to "do STEM"
  • Self-Determination Theory — autonomy over identity expression, competence through scaffolded technical projects, and relatedness through an affirming peer community
  • Person-Centered Psychology — facilitator authenticity and unconditional acceptance created the relational safety for identity vulnerability

Claims

Design

Sequence

  1. Facilitate participant co-construction of identity categories (gender, sexuality, STEM identity, interests) in participants' own terms.
  2. Low-barrier entry project: a paper-circuit name/pronoun placard that teaches basic circuit function while centering self-naming.
  3. Progress to a parallel-circuit e-textile bracelet project where identity (e.g., chosen colors, symbols) drives design choices.
  4. Culminate in an open-ended, microcontroller-powered wearable where participants have full autonomy over materials, design, and function.
  5. Build in reflection time and peer recognition of identity affirmations that surfaced during making.

Affordances

Examples

  • A 5-day, 15-hour e-textile camp for 9 queer-identifying youth in rural Utah, run by a facilitator team including an openly trans lead.

Key Sources

  • 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
Page metadata
Field Value
type design
id identity-centered-e-textile-making
title Identity-Centered E-Textile Making
description A maker pattern combining e-textiles (sewable circuits, LEDs, microcontrollers) with explicit invitation for participants to author identity into their design choices, so STEM making and identity expression develop together rather than separately.
status review
grain_size unit
author Tofel-Grehl et al.
generated by claude/unspecified on 2026-08-29
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — tofel-grehl-et-al-2024

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