<p>All though laughter is traditionally thought of as
divergent from the goals of science learning, this perspective seems to be a
cursory assumption about which little empirical evidence is provided. Taking a
situated and embodied approach to learning, this study details the affordances
of laughter in an afterschool STEM program for resettled Burmese refugee high
school youth. The informal learning setting in the afterschool program provides
a space where laughter is often present, yet the meanings of laughter in these settings
are not well understood. Through micro analysis of video data collected from
the afterschool setting, three interactions between youth and facilitators in
the setting were examined to investigate the work that youth’s laughter does in
the moment to challenge insular concepts of science discourse. Interaction
ritual analysis was used theorize the examined interactions’ connections to
other moments in the learning setting. In doing so, the affordances of laughter
were found to be its work in generating solidarity, democratizing power
relations, and providing ways to deal with uncertainty in science. Overall, findings
from this research indicate that the informal learning context and responsive
pedagogy provided important localities for youth to draw on their resources and
they do so even in seemingly insignificant moments along the margins of what is
traditionally considered to be science discourse. </p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/9108338 |
| Date | 16 August 2019 |
| Creators | Casey Elizabeth Wright (7037642) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/The_Affordances_of_Laughter_in_an_Afterschool_STEM_Program_for_Multilingual_Learners/9108338 |
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