About the authentic assessment project
The Authentic Maker Assessment (AMA) project proposes to develop and validate a new approach to quantify shifts in multifaceted identity that are locally meaningful to participants in Making contexts. Using a phenomenographic approach (Åkerlind, 2005; Marton & Pong, 2005) to collect qualitative data from groups of students, AMA engages in qualitatively grounded survey design rooted in the authentic Maker process of constructing artifacts with meaning to students. Youth are engaged in beading bracelets that reflect aspects of their identities that they derive though collective qualitative category development. These constructed bracelets are situated within Maker curricular projects that engage students in free afterschool classes and camps offered to various groups (e.g., LGBTQ+ school groups, refugee centers). Through these constructed bracelet projects, we will develop a validated multidimensional identity and identity shift instrument that provides a new model for complex and personally nuanced assessment. Students select beads from various categories that reflect their identities using categories they developed at regular intervals (see Figure 1). The cumulative results of this longitudinally constructed project provide meaningful data within categories of identity that are quantifiable through phenomenography (Feldon & Tofel-Grehl, 2018).
The Authentic Maker Assessment project applies advances in mixed methods approaches to measurement to assess the impact of Making experiences on identity (Feldon & Tofel-Grehl, 2018). Building on prior research identifying the multifaceted and constructed nature of identity, this approach to measuring shifts in identity with regarding to STEM engagement will permit a more informative, useful, and valid means to assess the impacts of Making on diverse youths’ orientation toward STEM. Because Making has been demonstrated to disrupt the historic narratives around what is STEM and who does it (Kafai et al, 2014; Tofel-Grehl et al, 2017) developing measures with the capacity to capture both nuance and intersectionality of identity can transform the field of Maker education research. Using mixed methods applications of phenomenography and data not missing at random (MNAR) models, the Authentic Maker Assessment project will provide teachers and researchers an integrated, intersectional mixed methods approach to authentic Maker instruction that can distill nuanced changes into quantitative and generalizable data.
The Authentic Maker Assessment project applies advances in mixed methods approaches to measurement to assess the impact of Making experiences on identity (Feldon & Tofel-Grehl, 2018). Building on prior research identifying the multifaceted and constructed nature of identity, this approach to measuring shifts in identity with regarding to STEM engagement will permit a more informative, useful, and valid means to assess the impacts of Making on diverse youths’ orientation toward STEM. Because Making has been demonstrated to disrupt the historic narratives around what is STEM and who does it (Kafai et al, 2014; Tofel-Grehl et al, 2017) developing measures with the capacity to capture both nuance and intersectionality of identity can transform the field of Maker education research. Using mixed methods applications of phenomenography and data not missing at random (MNAR) models, the Authentic Maker Assessment project will provide teachers and researchers an integrated, intersectional mixed methods approach to authentic Maker instruction that can distill nuanced changes into quantitative and generalizable data.