Makerspaces and Inclusivity

Hannah Kye (2020) explores the intersection of culture and online makerspaces in the quest to find out if it is possible to make science education in schools more inclusive for female-identifying and culturally diverse students, who are less likely to pursue careers in science and who have historically been surpassed by male-identifying students of the dominant culture. The researcher found rampant inequity in schools including more suspensions for non-white students, more non-white students in special education, low teacher expectations for minority students, and points to the tenets of culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) that promote, in part, professional development in diverse cultures, modelling a caring attitude, and acknowledging diverse epistemologies as part of the path to debunking colonial views that science and engineering are absolute. The author sought to explore the relevance of CRP in online makerspace communities and found little uptake except for the tenet of caring and building learning communities (Kye, 2020).

Marijel Melo (2020) puts forth that instead of being neutral, makerspaces are systemically gendered, more welcoming to male-identifying than female-identifying users and good intentions alone will not democratize their accessibility and use by racially diverse, economically underserved, and 2SLGBTQIA+ populations. The researcher argues that makerspaces have been marketed to and configure male, highly educated, affluent, white users by publications, such as Make magazine; producing ideologies and frameworks by and for the dominant culture, interested primarily in economic outcomes, as opposed to not-for-profit and social futures. The author suggests phenomenal socio-emotional and physical interventions may be required to precipitate culturally diverse, equitable, and shared learning environments (Melo, 2020).

Tamaka and Sherry Discuss Inclusive Makification (as a Plotagon animation).

Plotagon transcript:

Scene 1

Tamaka : Hi Sherry! I'm glad you could make it.

Sherry: Me too. I was so glad to get out of the house. You know, I was really disappointed today at school. I'm teaching Grade 8 science this year and was looking through the textbook. You know what I saw? Whenever there was a photo of a scientist, it was an older white male in a lab coat. As if there were no female scientists in the world!

Tamaka: What are you gonna do about it?

Sherry: I don't know. Any suggestions?

Tamaka: Hum. Well, no wonder there are fewer women and BIPOC people in science fields. I remember reading that in a paper somewhere. Oh, right. That was Hannah Kye's paper that I read for my M.E.T. course.

Sherry: What else did Hannah say?

Tamaka: She said half of scientists and engineers were white men, 18% were women and only three percent were Black and four percent were Hispanic men. Can you believe it?

Sherry: Actually, when I did my B.A. in science, there were way more men than women.

Tamaka: Anyways, let's just enjoy the rest of the evening and catch up. Tonight I'll pull up some of the papers I've been reading and we can talk tomorrow. I'm hungry and we haven't even ordered yet.

Scene 2

Sherry: Thanks for meeting me here today, Tamaka. Do you notice that we're always eating when we meet?

Tamaka: And I love cafeteria food! Anyways, I found the papers I was talking about last night. Did you know that research shows inequities in schools for ethnically diverse students that include more suspensions, more students in special education and lower teacher expectations for minority students. It looks like there's a lot more than just bias going on.

Sherry: Oh no! So what can I do about that in my science class?

Tamaka: Well, Hannah Kye talks about the potential for equity and makerspaces that are grounded in culturally responsive pedagogy. She looked at websites that teach people how to make culturally inclusive makerspaces to see if they followed C.R.P. Unfortunately, most of them didn't. But I really think that some of CRP could be useful for you. For instance, you could learn about your students' diverse cultures by asking how their communities pass on knowledge. It's important to be open and accepting of different epistemologies. When involving your class making activities, you can ensure that your physical and online spaces include ethnic and culturally diverse content. Your students will feel seen and heard.

Sherry: You know, I want my class to be a safe and welcoming space for everyone. So those are great ideas. We do have an online component to our group making activities so this will be a good foundation to start from.

Tamaka: Did you know that out of 40 people featured on the covers of Make Magazine none of them have been people of color?

Sherry: No, I didn't! You know Tamaka, I really want to change this.

Tamaka: I read another really interesting article by Maggie Mello. She did a study looking at how men and women through makerspaces. What she found was that men felt more comfortable than women. Making has been around forever, but the concept of makerspaces has definitely made it more of a S.T.E.M. thing. Makerspaces aren't neutral or value free. This really influenced the type of tools in the space, which happened to be mostly ones that men had an affinity for. While Kye recognized the inequities of access for women and culturally and ethnically diverse people in science and Melo recognized the same in physical makerspaces, Kye saw potential in makerspaces using culturally responsive pedagogy and Melo argued that systemic change was needed to make makerspaces more equitable and change assumptions about making for women.

Sherry: That's a lot to think about. I'm going to do some more of my own research and maybe talk to some teachers that have had some success, to see also suggested avenues to equity, and inclusion in science. I really appreciate you sharing what you've learned.

Tamaka: No problem. That's what friends are for!

References

Kye, H. (2020). Who is welcome here? A culturally responsive content analysis of makerspace websites. Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER), 10(2), https://doi.org/10.7771/2157-9288.1190

Kye, H. (2023, May 24). People and pedagogies in inclusive maker education [Conference session]. MET Inclusive Makerspace Conference, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.

Melo, M. (2020). How do makerspaces communicate who belongs? Examining gender inclusion through the analysis of user journey maps in a makerspace. Journal of Learning Spaces, 9(1), 59-68.

Melo, M. (2023, May 25). Space invaders: First time users feel like trespassers [Conference session]. MET Inclusive Makerspace Conference, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.