More Like this

1. Using narratives to evoke empathy and support girls’ engagement in engineering

   Letourneau, S. M.; Bennett, D. (January 2020, Connected science learning)

   null (Ed.)

   Reframing engineering activities to emphasize the needs of others has the potential to strengthen engineering practices like problem scoping, while also providing more inclusive and socially relevant entry points into engineering problems. In this design-based research project, we developed novel strategies for adding narratives to engineering activities to deepen girls’ engagement in engineering practices by evoking empathy for the users of their designs. We describe a set of hands-on engineering activities developed through iterative development and testing with 190 girls (ages 7-14) at the New York Hall of Science. Findings show how elements of narrative (like characters and settings) evoked learners’ empathy, and how learners’ expressions of empathy related to practices like problem scoping and iteration. A set of design principles summarizes critical features of the narrative activities for evoking empathy and supporting the engineering design process. Finally, we offer recommendations for practitioners who would like to use narratives to engage learners in approaching engineering problems from a user-centered perspective. This work has implications for the development of inclusive and engaging engineering activities that appeal to elementary and middle school learners in a wide range of settings. 

   more » « less
2. danceON: Culturally Responsive Creative Computing

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445149  

   Payne, William Christopher; Bergner, Yoav; West, Mary Etta; Charp, Carlie; Shapiro, R. Benjamin; Szafir, Danielle Albers; Taylor, Edd V.; DesPortes, Kayla (May 2021, CHI '21: Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems)

   null (Ed.)

   Dance provides unique opportunities for embodied interdisciplinary learning experiences that can be personally and culturally relevant. danceON is a system that supports learners to leverage their body movement as they engage in artistic practices across data science, computing, and dance. The technology includes a Domain Specific Language (DSL) with declarative syntax and reactive behavior, a media player with pose detection and classification, and a web-based IDE. danceON provides a low-floor allowing users to bind virtual shapes to body positions in under three lines of code, while also enabling complex, dynamic animations that users can design working with conditionals and past position data. We developed danceON to support distance learning and deployed it in two consecutive cohorts of a remote, two-week summer camp for young women of color. We present our findings from an analysis of the experience and the resulting computational performances. The work identifies implications for how design can support learners’ expression across culturally relevant themes and examines challenges from the lens of usability of the computing language and technology. 

   more » « less
3. (Designing for) learning computational STEM and arts integration in culturally sustaining learning ecologies

   https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-01-2020-0018  

   Champion, Dionne N.; Tucker-Raymond, Eli; Millner, Amon; Gravel, Brian; Wright, Christopher G.; Likely, Rasheda; Allen-Handy, Ayana; Dandridge, Tikyna M. (November 2020, Information and Learning Sciences)

   null (Ed.)

   Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the designed cultural ecology of a hip-hop and computational science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) camp and the ways in which that ecology contributed to culturally sustaining learning experiences for middle school youth. In using the principles of hip-hop as a CSP for design, the authors question how and what practices were supported or emerged and how they became resources for youth engagement in the space. Design/methodology/approach The overall methodology was design research. Through interpretive analysis, it uses an example of four Black girls participating in the camp as they build a computer-controlled DJ battle station. Findings Through a close examination of youth interactions in the designed environment – looking at their communication, spatial arrangements, choices and uses of materials and tools during collaborative project work – the authors show how a learning ecology, designed based on hip-hop and computational practices and shaped by the history and practices of the dance center where the program was held, provided access to ideational, relational, spatial and material resources that became relevant to learning through computational making. The authors also show how youth engagement in the hip-hop computational making learning ecology allowed practices to emerge that led to expansive learning experiences that redefine what it means to engage in computing. Research limitations/implications Implications include how such ecologies might arrange relations of ideas, tools, materials, space and people to support learning and positive identity development. Originality/value Supporting culturally sustaining computational STEM pedagogies, the article argues two original points in informal youth learning 1) an expanded definition of computing based on making grammars and the cultural practices of hip-hop, and 2) attention to cultural ecologies in designing and understanding computational STEM learning environments. 

   more » « less
4. Engineering Awareness at Design Challenge Exhibits

   Randol, S.; Benne, M.; Herran, C.; Ramos-Montañez, S.; & Shagott, T. (July 2021, 2021 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition)

   Awareness of a STEM discipline is a complex construct to operationalize; a learner’s awareness of a discipline is sometimes viewed through the lens of personal identity, use of relevant discourse, or knowledge of career pathways. This research proposes defining engineering awareness through a learner’s associations with engineering practices - fundamental processes involved in engineering such as identifying criteria and constraints, testing designs, diagnosing issues and assessing goal completion. In this study, a learner’s engineering awareness was determined by examining 1) their ability to name or identify the engineering-related practices and processes they used, 2) associating those practices and processes with engineering, and 3) reporting that those were practices and processes that engineers use. This research was conducted in a large science center in the Pacific Northwest and capitalizes on science center exhibits as unique family learning environments in the interest of promoting and strengthening family engagement and engineering learning. Participant selection focused on girls ages 9–14 and their families, ensuring the inclusion and influence of members of Latino communities (Spanish speaking and bilingual English/Spanish). Data were collected at three different design challenge exhibits. Engineering awareness was measured using three items on a visitor survey administered following a groups’ exhibit experience and through interview responses which were coded for mention of the words design, engineering and a list of associated practices. Participants were given the option of completing the survey and interview in English or Spanish. The study found that participants overwhelmingly reported that they were doing engineering at exhibits; however, in open-ended responses from the interview, most groups simply implied or named specific engineering design practices rather than use the term engineering. The words building, testing, and improving designs were reported more frequently than words such as defining a problem, making a plan, or completing a challenge. The type of responses about using engineering practices varied by type of exhibit which suggests that different exhibits might encourage respondents to engage in, or recognise that they are engaging in, some engineering design practices more than others. This work proposes an operational definition to measure learners’ awareness of engaging in engineering practices. This definition and the instruments and methods developed to measure awareness in this way are contributions to the larger conversations on this topic in the field. Findings from this study offer insights into how learners identify engineering-related practices and how they associate those practices with engineering. As part of a five-year, federally funded project, the result of this work informs the development of new design challenge exhibits, and the instruments and methods will be used in a second research study to explore how these new exhibits and the addition of staff facilitation impact visitor use and awareness of engineering practices. 

   more » « less
5. Learning Computational Thinking Practices Through Agent-Based Modeling in an Informal Setting

   Adeolu, A. (January 2022, Journal of research in science mathematics and technology education)

   In this qualitative study, I investigated the form of interaction when learners co-constructed computational thinking practices in an informal setting. This study focuses on the roles of five youth, three adult mentors, and a facilitator during a summer camp and documents how learners interacted to exchange ideas, collaborate, and accommodate other perspectives. Participants used questions that promote deep thinking to engage in computational thinking practices during the interactions. Analysis of data shows that learners developed computational thinking practices including interpreting, modeling connections to the real-world, manipulating parameters, discovering ideas to explore models, prompting, conjecturing, and making predictions when working on agent-based modeling and writing codes in NetLogo. These practices are further grouped together as model interpretation and connection to the real world, parameter manipulation and discovery, prompting and exploring, and making predictions/conjectures and generalizing. This study also finds some community-based practices such as practical wisdom, trying something and adjusting, and the use of network of resources relevant during interaction to develop computational thinking practices. 

   more » « less