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Title: Reclaiming our science center: Youth co-design of the Katherine Johnson Room.
In this article, we explore how Science Center educators and youth collaboratively investigated the characteristics of the space that had made some visitors feel less welcome, and how our collaborative worked together to address the issues identified. By bringing to the forefront youth perspectives of their own lives and histories, youth and adults partnered to examine, critique, and re-design the Science Center and challenge historical representations of science. Specifically, the youth participants led the co-design of a new classroom based on the life and work of Dr. Katherine Johnson, a pioneering mathematician profiled as one of NASA’s “hidden figures,” who calculated the orbital mechanics for the first American in space. The youth participants were also essential to the development of a series of displays and activities about women of color in science. Designing these new features of the Science Center together required the careful development of a new and shared understanding of what the Science Center could be. https://www.astc.org/astc-dimensions/reclaiming-our-science-center-youth-co-design-of-the-dr-katherine-johnson-room/  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2016707
PAR ID:
10316591
Author(s) / Creator(s):
Date Published:
Journal Name:
ASTC dimensions
ISSN:
1528-820X
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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