Kim, Won Jung;
Barton, Angela Calabrese;
Brien, Sinead;
Archer, Louise;
(2025)
Youth-Initiated Moments: Making Visible Youth Bids for Rightful Presence in Informal STEM Learning.
Cognition and Instruction
, 43
(1-2)
pp. 69-97.
10.1080/07370008.2025.2453241.
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Abstract
Although informal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning (ISL) has served as a catalyst for inclusive lifelong STEM engagement, research indicates that participation in ISL can still remain inequitable, especially for youths from minoritized communities. To address the continued inequities, youths’ rightful presence should be placed at the core of informal STEM education knowledge and practice. Rightful presence refers to youths legitimately belonging in learning spaces by calling out the limits of equity as inclusion. Our study explores the insights youths offered to inform pedagogical practices in support of equitable learning in ISL spaces. We seek such insights, particularly attending to the moments we call ‘youth-initiated,’ the instances in which youths made visible their bids for rightful presence by seeking shifts in and through their ISL experiences. Drawing on a research practice partnership project in which we co-generated and analyzed data with youths and educator partners, we identify three forms of youths’ bids for rightful presence: reorganizing physical and social representations within learning space, mattering beyond educator imagination, and foregrounding the sociopolitical dimension of learning. We illustrate these findings with three focal youth-initiated moments that emerged in the context of three respective ISL programs. We also elaborate on how educators and peers responded to the bids in ways that brought immediate and consequential shifts in ISL opportunities. We discuss our findings and implications regarding research and practice of justice-oriented pedagogies in and beyond ISL spaces.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Youth-Initiated Moments: Making Visible Youth Bids for Rightful Presence in Informal STEM Learning |
| DOI: | 10.1080/07370008.2025.2453241 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2025.2453241 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Education, Practice and Society |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10207004 |
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