Co-Designing for Rightful Presence in Informal Science Learning Environments

Addressing ways in which systemic injustices manifest in learning environments has been a significant challenge to the field of informal science learning (ISL). The dominant discourses of equity are framed around calls for inclusion and the extension of rights for quality learning opportunities for all youth. In this paper, we move beyond inclusionary approaches to use the justice-oriented framework of rightful presence. Grounded in participatory design research, the findings show how possibilities for rightful presence arise when educators and youths collaboratively engage in exposing, disrupting, and transforming unjust narratives and practices that position youths as knowledge recipients and temporary guests in the host ISL institutions. These possibilities are characterized by opportunities to foreground youths’ lived lives and community wisdom in ways that shift the boundaries of who and what science is for. We discuss insights, dilemmas, and implications regarding justice-oriented pedagogies and their possibilities for rightful presence in science education.