“I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO DO IT!” MATH AND MAKER IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT
Education and new developments · 2025
AMPED 4 Making is a collaboration between TERC and the Cesar Chavez Foundation to develop and pilot a two-year afterschool program that integrates math and making in semester-long units.For each semester, mini-maker projects lead to a larger project focused on making something for youths' own communities and implementing the community-focused values of labor organizer Cesar Chavez.One of the program's goals is to engage youth in a blend of design and making in and for the community-consequential making-to enhance and develop youth's agency and positive identity as makers, mathematical doers and users, and community members.From this goal follows this research question: How do youth's agency and identity as makers, mathematics doers and users, and community members change with participation in the program?To answer this question, we used a combination of methods that included object elicitation interviews, facilitator feedback, and facilitator interviews.Object elicitation interviewing is a data collection method where an object made by the children centers the conversation.Since they are participant-made objects, they embody children's knowledge, skills, and attitudes and make interviews easier by shifting the focus of attention from the interviewer-interviewee dyad to the object.In this paper, we examine the program's findings related to children's math and making identity development.We define math identity as a person's self-understanding as math doers that can flow between being competent and incompetent and that includes interests, aspirations, and engagement.We found that children valued the fact that they were able to express different dimensions of their identities, such as their cultural background, through the projects that they made.Children were proud of what they accomplished in the program, including completing projects, trying new things, and persevering when they encountered adversity.The research identified growth in children's math identity through their increased comfort in using math in the program and their self-perception of their competence as math doers.Youth also increased their awareness of how they are makers.This study shows that integrating math and making into a community-oriented afterschool program supports positive youth math and making identity development.