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clay that conducts electricity), and a range of other tools like this helps students make
Connecting with STEM Through and materials. connections between the

arts and their own physical,
Education researchers study the “making” process, the
Movement and Dance products the students create, and interview the students mental, and emotional
well-being.
to learn the thoughts behind their “making.” This helps
the researchers understand how youth make sense of In a current version,
In a summer program for youth ages nine to new ideas, think about their old ideas, and translate their youth are using hip hop
By Dionne N. Champion, fourteen, five students sit on the floor of a understanding through choreography, art, music, and dance
Ph.D., M.Ed. large room and work together to develop a scientific props, sound, and other ways of making. as part of a research
Assistant Research Professor representation of the human nervous system. After they In the dance makerspace, STEM is not project supported by
Dance and STEM read their research notes from the day before, they stand just STEM, movement can be more the National Science
University of Florida up and hold hands in a circle. Their sketchbook and notes than just movement, and the pathways Foundation. “The Hip
Center for Arts in Medicine lay on the floor, along with a few tools and an energy stick to learning are limitless. The students Hop Making Camp”
College of the Arts choose how they want to use their own project aims to create a
made with lights in a plastic tube that illuminates when
someone holds both ends. Their conversation becomes interests to create meaningful STEM learning environment that
a mix of talk, movement, and sound effects. They move experiences. They decide how to research other teachers and students
can use, combining creative ways
Jill Sonke, M.A. quickly around the space—running, jumping, spinning. of “making,” computer programs, and
Director At first glance, this composition of sights and sounds parts of hip hop culture. Students learn how electrical
Center for Arts in Medicine could easily be interpreted as a chaotic and unfocused In the dance makerspace, STEM is engineering is part of the history of hip hop (for example,
University of Florida activity. Are the children playing a new kind of game? how the crossfader was invented to switch between
College of the Arts Actually, they’re doing complicated work, using their not just STEM, movement can be records). They learn about how hip hop pioneers like DJ
Assistant Director minds, knowledge, imagination, and dance to represent Kool Herc created by “making do” with materials that they
Shands Arts in Medicine the human nervous system—specifically, how the brain more than just movement, and the already had, and they’re challenged to invent their own

communicates with the body. They’re developing a project pathways to learning are limitless. hip hop STEM creations by “making do” with materials
in the “dance makerspace.” available in the space. They learn to make computer art,
Sara Jo Nixon, Ph.D. Makerspaces are “informal sites for creative production and to program music with free software. They also create
ABCD Study Principal Investigator in art, science, and engineering where people of all dances and develop rules about how the dances should
University of Florida ages blend digital and physical technologies to explore their own questions and construct their own creative be performed, then they create and program computer
Director, University of Florida Center for 1 solutions.
Addiction Research & Education ideas, learn technical skills, and create new products.” Continued on page 37
Professor, Departments of Psychiatry “Making” activities combine engineering, art, and design. 2 The dance makerspace camps—designed
and Psychology, College of Medicine, The dance makerspace, however, is a little different. Like and facilitated by Dr. Dionne Champion, a
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences other makerspaces, it’s filled with materials, tools, and researcher at the University of Florida Center
Co-Vice Chair for Research, Department technologies students can use. There are workstations for Arts in Medicine—have taken many forms.
of Psychiatry with access to tablets and electricity where groups can In one series of camps, students worked in
Director, University of Florida collaborate. But in the dance makerspace, participants also groups to explain a scientific fact or event using
3
Neurocognitive Laboratory have a dance studio, where they develop their ideas by choreography and technology. These groups
using movement, music, and art. completed projects about the nervous system,

Linda B. Cottler, Ph.D., The dance makerspace was designed as part of a four-week the solar system, health conditions, blood flow,
volcanic eruptions, and the chemistry of
summer camp program in Gary, Indiana, for young African
M.P.H., FACE American dancers. One of the program’s goals is to get mood rings. Working with community
ABCD Study Principal Investigator students interested in the fields of science, technology, arts programs to develop activities
University of Florida engineering, and math (STEM). Research has shown that
Associate Dean for Research, College of students ages nine to fourteen become much Dionne Champion, Jill Sonke, and Linda Cottler
Public Health and Health Professions
Dean’s Professor less interested in STEM, particularly girls and 1 Sheridan, K., Halverson, E. R., Litts, B., Brahms, L., Jacobs-Priebe, L., & Owens, T. (2014). Learning in the making: A comparative case study of
4
Director-CTSI Community Engagement African American children. Youth from 2 three makerspaces. Harvard Educational Review, 84(4), 505-531.
Program underrepresented communities who aren’t Wagh, A., Gravel, B., Tucker-Raymond, E., & Klimczack, S. (2016, October). Negotiating tensions between aesthetics, meaning and technics as
Department of Epidemiology, Colleges of STEM learners, but are interested in dance, opportunities for disciplinary engagement. In Proceedings of the 6th Annual Conference on Creativity and Fabrication in Education (pp. 58-65).
ACM.
Public Health and Health Professions attend the camp five days a week. They’re 3 Hlubinka, M., Dougherty, D., Thomas, P., Chang, S., Hoefer, S., Alexander, I., & McGuire, D. (2013). Makerspace playbook: School edition.
and Medicine challenged to combine dance-making with Retrieved from: https://makered.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Makerspace-Playbook-Feb-2013.pdf.
technology, using kid-friendly electronic 4 Haynes, L. (2008). Studying STEM: What are the barriers? London, England: Institute of Engineering and Technology.
items (such as lights, electronic boards, and