Play as a pedagogical vehicle for supporting gender inclusive engagement in informal STEM education

ABSTRACT

Out-of-school making and engineering programmes that are frequently positioned as playful have increased dramatically in recent years – but how appropriate is the framing of play for engagement in these informal STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) spaces? Drawing on data from two research sites located in the UK, including observations of making and engineering activities with children aged 5–13 years, and interviews with nine key informants, we identify that play has three key affordances namely: (1) play can provide structure, (2) play is considered to be synonymous with open-ended science inquiry, and, (3) play can enable gender inclusive STEM spaces through promoting free-choice. We also note that overly simplistic framings of play may limit recognition by both adults and children of the educational value of these spaces and deny a fuller understanding of the opportunities that such spaces afford in providing children with moreopportunities to engage with STEM, particularly engineering. We suggest that play has an important pedagogical role in informal STEM activities, including making, when it is grounded in free-choice exploration and imagination. We argue for continued discussion and reflection upon both the value of play as a pedagogical vehicle and its affordances for enhancing youth engagement in STEM spaces.

KEYWORDS:

• Play
• making
• makerspaces
• engineering
• STEM
• gender inclusive engagement

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the staff and children of the case study sites for their support and contribution to this research. The authors would also like to thank the members of the Writing Group based in the School of Education, Society and Communication, King’s College London who read drafts of this paper and provided extremely helpful feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement NO 787476. This paper reflects only the authors’ views. The Research Executive Agency (REA) and the European Commission are not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.