Constructing Capable

Identities
Evangelista, Karen Joyce A.

ENTER
 Barton and Brickhouse, (2006)

01
Scholarship on gender identities and STEM typically
02
has focused on how scientific practices and
03 identities are associated with masculinity, and the
04
challenges for girls and women in gaining
acceptance as a female scientists.
 Paecher, (2007)
Suggests that masculinities and femininities
01 are problematic and constraining terms, and
that is might be more useful to “think of
02
masculinities in terms of power, but not
03 always successfully, claimed by men and
04 make the case that these are also mobilized
by women and girls.
 PROVIDING
01

02 DIRECTION AND
03 SETTING RULES
04
01
In contrast to many teacher-directed or
02
adult-directed setting, Priyanka played
03
a limited role in determining what the
04
girls would do or how they would do it.
 MA
IE YRA
S
SU

KATE
01 EXPLAINING OR
02

03
DEMONSTRATING
04
01 Another way that the girls
02 created capable identities
was through providing
03
explanations of how to do
04
something or
demonstrating a process.
 PROVIDING
INFORMATION
01 In some cases, the girls shared
02 relevant information that was
03
not directly aimed at completing
04
a task.
01
SHARING STORIES
02

03
OR EXPERIENCES
04
The girls were comfortable with sharing
personal stories and experiences, and
they used these experiences to reinforce
their capabilities with technologies or
skills and knowledge related to their
making activities.
PARSONS, 1995

Recent scholarship on STEM

education emphasizes diversity
in how girls and boys enact
STEM identities.
O’ Connor, 2003

In the context of this friendship and

family group, the girls were able to take
on differing and complementary
“identities of expertise’ in relation to the
use of tools, materials and design.
 IMPLICATIONS FOR
LITERACY EDUCATION
and CROSS-DISCIPLINARY
FIELDS
Sheffield et al., 2017

A frequently stated goal of maker

education is to help all students
develop identities as “maker”, and
by extension, as potential engineers
or scientists.
Root-Bernstein, 2014

Many scientists, both male and

female, describes informal
childhood experiences with science
as sparking their initial interest and
identities as scientists.
Barton and Brickhouse, 2006

call for educators to “offer girls opportunities

to engage in science in ways that foster the
development of scientific identities, teach them
about the content and practice of science, and
give them credibility within local
communities”.
English, 2016

The findings from this study

illuminate how informal making
activities can be context for STEM
literacy learning for both boys and
girls.
Teaching disciplinary literacy is one
approach to STEM literacy that has
become predominant in recent years.
Shanahan, 2012

Disciplinary literacy refers to “the

knowledge and abilities possessed
by those who create, communicate,
and use knowledge within the
disciplines”.
 Parents, other family members, and
community organizations have important
role to place in the use of making and
tinkering to foster STEM literacies,
identities and abilities among all
children.
 What’s more important is that making
and tinkering become family activities,
regardless of gender, age or expertise.
Families are significant influences on
children’s early attitudes toward stem
and their STEM identities.
 Lastly, we suggest that parents and
informal educators give more attention to
the importance of peer groups and
affinity spaces in the learning outcomes
of making and tinkering activities.
Gee, 2000

Suggest that affinity identities, those associated

with shared interest, experiences and related
practices, can be powerful counterpoints to
stereotypes associated with gender, race,
socioeconomic class, or other social categories.
 ALTERNATIVE RESOURCES

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THANK YOU