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Early STEM learning opportunities aligned with families’ funds of knowledge can produce meaningful learning experiences for children. We investigated Latina mothers’ perceptions and values of STEM learning, STEM-related activities with their children, and the early STEM learning experiences mothers designed for community spaces. In a researchpractice partnership, we conducted seven virtual co-design sessions with 32 caregivers and individual interviews with a subset of 10 mothers. A thematic analysis revealed that Latina mothers’ STEM perceptions were primarily informed by school-based notions, yet they also integrated STEM in everyday, family practices such as cultural games. Mothers valued experiences promoting family unity, intergenerational learning, heritage, active citizenship, and ganas. Finally, Latina mothers’ values and practices informed their vision and design of early STEM learning artifacts in the community. Thus, diverse parents’ contributions in design efforts can serve as a mechanism through which stakeholders connect and enhance children’s learning experiences across contexts.
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Connecting to the Physical Space through Funds of Knowledge: Lessons Learned from a STEM Summer Enrichment Program
The concept of funds of knowledge has been widely studied in different educational contexts. Funds of knowledge are described as the historically accumulated skills, experiences, practices, and ways of knowing that develop within a household for functioning and well-being. Sometimes these include the intellectual, communicative, emotional, resistance and even spiritual resources for learning that emerge from household and community practices. As a framework, funds of knowledge is important when trying to understand the learning processes occurring at home and communities that can be transferred into any learning environment (e.g., school, museum, library, after-school program). However, there has been little discussion on how immediate role models, such as STEM summer program facilitators, can engage in eliciting the funds of knowledge of summer enrichment program participants in order to make their experiences more enriching and culturally responsive. This pilot study sought to understand how STEM facilitators, also known as pod leaders in this study, understood “funds of knowledge” as a framework and utilized it as a tool to elicit and make the most of the funds of knowledge participants (middle school students) brought to a two-week STEM summer enrichment program. The study, which is a small piece of a much larger research endeavor, primarily relied on data collected from interviews with eight individual pod leaders. The results of this study indicated that elicitation strategies are sometimes hindered by programmatic features–primarily the time constraints and subsequent lack of time for reflection–of summer enrichment programs.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1826354
- PAR ID:
- 10106671
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ASEE Annual Conference proceedings
- ISSN:
- 1524-4644
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Elementary school is the first opportunity most students have to learn about STEM; however, elementary teachers are sometimes the least confident and prepared to teach STEM concepts and practices. Research Experience for Teachers (RET) programs are an established form of K-12 teacher professional development in which teachers are invited to work as members of a laboratory research team to increase their enthusiasm, knowledge and experience in STEM fields. The Engineering for Biology: Multidisciplinary Research Experiences for Teachers (MRET) of Elementary Grades was a 7-week summer program in which teachers were embedded as contributing members of engineering laboratory research teams and was established with the goals of (1) increasing teacher knowledge of STEM concepts and practices, (2) fostering mentoring relationships among researchers and teachers in each laboratory, and (3) guiding the translation of the teachers’ laboratory experience into the classroom through the development of STEM learning units. This exploratory study focuses on the second goal, and involves the use of developmental network theory to discriminate mentoring among participants within the summer 2017 and 2018 cycles of MRET. Using data collected in daily observations as well as daily activity and conversation logs submitted by all participants during the lab experience, post participation surveys, and post program semi structured interviews, we have characterized a network of mentoring that existed within the lab portion of MRET as being multidirectional and potentially beneficial to all members, including researchers as well as teachers. This finding challenges the currently accepted assumption that teachers are the primary beneficiaries of mentoring within RET programs. If demonstrated to be appropriate and transferrable to the RET context, such a perspective could enhance our understanding of the experience and be used for maximizing the outcomes for all participants.more » « less
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Children from underserved, minoritized, and immigrant families have less access to early out-of-school STEM learning opportunities. Playful Learning Landscapes increase the accessibility of early STEM learning in everyday public spaces (e.g., bus stops, grocery stores) by merging principles of guided play and STEM learning goals with local community's values. We used community-based design research to (1) identify Latine families’ funds of knowledge related to play, science, and math learning, and (2) create designs for playful environments merging families’ values and practices with guided play and STEM learning principles. Our design partners were 32 parents, primarily Spanish-speaking immigrant mothers from Mexico, and two directors of a local community organization. The design process consisted of co-design sessions, interviews, inductive thematic analysis, elaboration, playtest and feedback, and iteration. Our findings showed that familismo, heritage representation, and the meaning of community spaces influenced the ways families engaged in STEM learning and the learning environments they desired in their community. Moreover, families’ STEM practices were rooted in everyday experiences of playing cultural games, family food routines, and outdoor activities. Incorporating Latine parents in the design process and leveraging their funds of knowledge resulted in culturally situated designs aligned with playful and STEM learning principles. This study contributes to knowledge of Latine families’ values and practices that can help create home-community connections to strengthen children's learning.more » « less
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As engineering educators attempt to develop solutions to increase student retention and graduation rates and decrease student departures from their majors during the first two years of study, findings from a summer bridge program at a large minority-serving institution (MSI) show promise for practices that could potentially help to mitigate these issues. Summer bridge strategies have been shown to be effective in assisting in college students’ transition from first to sophomore year. This study comprises a case study of a chemical engineering summer bridge program in which undergraduate peer facilitators introduced sophomore-level chemical engineering material and energy balance course material to their peers. The goal of this study was to understand the types of discourse methods used during problem-solving sessions by peer facilitators and how students’ learning experiences were impacted. Data for this study were collected via video observations and a post-program open-ended survey. Authors found that peer facilitators created an environment where students felt encouraged and supported and could relate to facilitators and course materials in new ways. This work further illustrates promising practices of using peer facilitators that need further attention, along with the potential for how engagement and learning could be enhanced by the more formal preparation of peer facilitators.more » « less
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IntroductionThere is a critical need to develop innovative educational strategies that engage youth in meaningful mathematics learning, particularly students from groups that have been historically marginalized in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). In this study, we explore youths’ participation in two collaborative projects from the Growing Mathletes curriculum which combines baseball contexts and mathematics. Our goal was to understand the potential of these projects to support youths’ engagement with mathematical ideas and practices, and the extent to which youth leveraged a range of resources, including prior experiences and funds of knowledge, to inform their decisions and understanding. MethodsThe Design a Stadium and Baseball Team Roster projects were implemented in two afterschool setting sites and two summer program sites with 102 youth of all genders in grades 3 to 8. Data sources included video recordings of youth participation in the project, project artifacts, and youth interviews. ResultsWe found the projects contained specific features that supported youths’ engagement in three specific mathematical practices: (1) make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, (2) reason abstractly and quantitatively, and (3) construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. Additionally, there is evidence that while engaging in these projects youth drew on their own funds of knowledge to inform their decisions and understanding. ConclusionOur findings point to key implications for researchers, educators, and curriculum developers in informal STEM learning spaces.more » « less
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