King's College London

A new publication and exhibition titled "(Eco)vocative Objects: Things that engage with environmental issues" will debut at the MA STEM Education Conference on 4 July in the Exchange. Emerging from the MA in STEM Education, the exhibition will bring together educators, students and alumni to celebrate innovative, justice-oriented approaches to STEM learning. 

Developed through the STEM: Making & Creating module, (Eco)vocative objects rethinks the role of making in a time of social and ecological crisis. Moving beyond traditional maker narratives focused on production, the work foregrounds practices rooted in repair, reuse and care, emphasising socially just and environmentally responsible engagement with materials and ideas. The project is also inspired by and builds on the Heartwood books, which similarly foreground creative, critical and story-rich engagements with environmental issues.

The book draws inspiration from Sherry Turkle’s Evocative Objects: Things We Think With (2007), inviting contributors to tell the stories of objects they, or their learners, have designed using STEM skills to explore aspects of the socio-ecological crisis. These objects act as prompts for reflection and dialogue, connecting making with questions of sustainability, inequality and our relationships with human and more-than-human worlds.

Featuring contributions from an engaged and intergenerational community of educators, students, and alumni, the volume highlights the diversity of practices developed across classrooms, workshops and informal learning spaces. Each chapter is accompanied by dedicated teaching resources, enabling educators to adapt these approaches within their own settings and advance more inclusive, critical and creative STEM education.

Alongside the book, the exhibition showcases a selection of (eco)vocative objects, presenting them not simply as artefacts but as provocations for thought and feeling. Visitors are invited to engage with the stories and meanings embedded in each piece, and to consider how making can foster responsibility, reflection and connection in response to pressing global challenges.

Following its conference launch, the exhibition will return to the Exchange for two weeks at the start of September, offering the wider university community an opportunity to engage with the work. It will then tour partner STEM Hub schools, extending its reach beyond King’s.

This launch marks an important milestone in the ongoing development of a community committed to reimagining STEM education, one that recognises making as not only technical, but also cultural, ethical and affective. Through (Eco)vocative Objects, King’s continues to contribute to conversations about how education can respond meaningfully to the environmental and social challenges of our time.