Kim, Won Jung; Barton, Angela Calabrese; Archer, Louise; (2025) Making Space in Support of Youths' Rightful Presence in Informal STEM Learning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 10.1002/tea.70000. (In press).

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Abstract

Informal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning (ISL) can remain inequitable when discourse and practices in ISL spaces position youth as temporary guests by implicitly or explicitly sidelining youths' experiences, community wisdom, cultures, and histories. The framework of rightful presence problematizes guest–host relationalities that delimit youths' rights in learning spaces. It calls for educators' disruptive and transformative practices in support of youths reauthoring rights toward co-creating equitable learning opportunities. This study explored how such practices emerge from educators' routine ISL instructions. Using comparative constant analysis of data generated from a larger research–practice partnership project in regional ISL settings, we identified three practices that differed in how educators supported rightful presence through engaging youths in ISL design: (1) educator-designed space making; (2) taking-up youths' disruption and reorganizing ISL opportunities; (3) co-creating new ISL opportunities. Practice 1 primarily focused on fostering disciplinary and social engagement, often prompting educators to further enact Practice 2 or 3. Practice 2 or 3 made space not only for youths' equitable access to educator-designed ISL but also for reconfiguring power relationalities with youths for reauthoring ISL opportunities. Our findings suggest that support for rightful presence can begin from ordinary educator-designed ISL practices but should also seek to disrupt the ordinariness with youths. We discuss findings, including how Practices 2 and 3 can be more purposefully enacted in the ISL curricular and structural planning phase, moving beyond their emergence as a follow-up on Practice 1. Implications are considered regarding the role of STEM education research and practice in support of youths' presence as rightful participants, re-organizers, and constructors of their ISL opportunities and futures.

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