Abstracts
Abstract
This report from the field presents a community-engaged, visual method for evaluating students’ perceptions of equity in Maker Club, an informal STEM (Science, Technology, Math, and Engineering) education program in Ohio. The purpose of the program is to increase access to and interest in STEM fields among underserved communities. A total of fifteen middle school-aged program participants from two cohorts that were hosted at two different after-school program sites engaged in participant-employed photography to document their views of the implementation of six design principles for equitable learning. The evaluation process unfolded in five phases: 1) recruitment of co-researchers, including explanation of guidelines; 2) teaching co-researchers how to use the camera, including testing out the camera; 3) co-researchers observing, and taking pictures of, students and staff engaged in the makerspace; 4) informal photo interviewing; 5) sharing with program staff via informal conversations and a formal meeting discussion. Takeaways include that co-researchers perceived students benefiting from social support, community partner presence, and local knowledge being recognized. Lessons learned entail keeping students on track, ensuring that there is enough staff support focused on the evaluation process, and being open to other potential, meaningful uses of co-researchers’ photos.
Keywords:
- informal STEM education,
- visual methods,
- photography,
- evaluation,
- equity
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Appendices
Biographical notes
Karie Jo Peralta, Ph.D. (corresponding author), is an associate professor of sociology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio. She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. Her research interests are in community-based methods, sociology of education, nonprofit organizations, and Dominican Studies. Email: karie.peralta@utoledo.edu
Sloan Eberly Mann is the Chief Education Officer at Imagination Station, a science center located in downtown Toledo, Ohio. She earned her M.A. in Anthropology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her professional interests include advancing the making and tinkering pedagogy and promoting access to high quality STEM education in the Northwest Ohio region.
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