Techno-Vernacular Creativity and Innovation Culturally Relevant Making Inside and Outside of the Classroom

by Gaskins, Nettrice R.; Buechley, Leah; Benjamin, Ruha

• ISBN13: 9780262542661
• ISBN10: 0262542668
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780262365949
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2021-08-10
• Publisher: The MIT Press
• More Book Details

Summary

A novel approach to STEAM learning that engages students from historically marginalized communities in culturally relevant and inclusive maker education.

The growing maker movement in education has become an integral part of both STEM and STEAM learning, tapping into the natural DIY inclinations of creative people as well as the educational power of inventing or making things. And yet African American, Latino/a American, and Indigenous people are underrepresented in maker culture and education. In this book, Nettrice Gaskins proposes a novel approach to STEAM learning that engages students from historically marginalized communities in culturally relevant and inclusive maker education. Techno-vernacular creativity (TVC) connects technical literacy, equity, and culture, encompassing creative innovations produced by ethnic groups that are often overlooked.

TVC uses three main modes of activity: reappropriation, remixing, and improvisation. Gaskins looks at each of the three modes in turn, guiding readers from research into practice. Drawing on real-world examples, she shows how TVC creates dynamic learning environments where underrepresented ethnic students feel that they belong. Students who remix computationally, for instance, have larger toolkits of computational skills with which to connect cultural practices to STEAM subjects; reappropriation offers a way to navigate cultural repertoires; improvisation is firmly rooted in cultural and creative practices. Finally, Gaskins explores an equity-oriented approach that makes a distinction between conventional or dominant pedagogical approaches and culturally relevant or responsive making methods and practices. She describes TVC habits of mind and suggests methods of instructions and projects.

Author Biography

Nettrice R. Gaskins is a digital artist, youth educator, independent academic, and cultural critic. Previously Director of the STEAM Lab at Boston Arts Academy, she is currently Assistant Director of the STEAM Learning Lab at Lesley University.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Leah Buechley ix
Acknowledgments xi
Preface xv
Introduction 1
Part I: Reappropriation
Chapter 1: Self-taught Engineering, Upcycling and Speculative Design 15
Chapter 2: Hitting Switches & The Hero's Journey 31
Part II: Remixing
Chapter 3: Conceptual Remixing and Computation 53
Chapter 4: Remixing in Teaching and Learning 71
Part III: Improvisation
Chapter 5: Tangible and Embodied Improvisation 89
Chapter 6: Improvisational STEAM Learning and Making 105
Part IV: TVC and Culturally Relevant Making
Chapter 7: TVC and Implications for STEAM Teaching and Learning 125
Conclusion: Building a Culturally Relevant Maker Toolkit 137
Afterword by Ruha Benjamin 149
References 153
Index 171