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.
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Creating Pathways for Equity in STEM Through Family Engagement: Highlighting the Experiences of Hispanic/Latine Youths
In order for children to identify with STEM fields, it is essential that they feel there is a place within STEM for individuals “like them.” Unfortunately, this identification is difficult for Hispanic/Latine youths because of lack of representation and even stereotyping that is widespread in educational institutions in the United States. Some research has been done, though, that suggests there is promise in understanding the ways that parents help children see themselves as “STEM people” in spite of these obstacles. Building on this work, we present some of our own research on the experiences of Hispanic/Latine youth in South Florida and how their parents use the resources they have (i.e., capital) to engage their children in STEM and help them develop positive self-perceptions. We find that parents use STEM capital they have, convert other capital into STEM capital, and establish family dispositions that are supportive of STEM identity development. We show how these ideas can be applied to make programming more inviting for Hispanic/Latine youths and emphasize the need to consider parental involvement in any efforts to increase children’s identification with STEM.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1846167
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10206299
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Connected science learning
- Volume:
- 2
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 2475-8779
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Introduction Parents' science support and adolescents' motivational beliefs are associated with adolescents' expectations for their future occupations; however, these associations have been mostly investigated among White, middle‐class samples. Framed by situated expectancy‐value theory, the current study investigated: (1) the associations between parents' science support in 9th grade and Latine adolescents' science intrinsic value, utility value, and STEM career expectations in 11th grade, and (2) whether these indicators and the relations among them differed by adolescents' gender and parents' education.
Methods Study participants included Latine adolescents (
n = 3060;M age = 14.4 years old; 49% female) in the United States from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009.Results Analyses revealed a significant, positive association between parents' science support and Latine adolescents' science utility value. Additionally, there was a significant, positive association between parents' science support and Latinas' science intrinsic value, but not for Latinos' science intrinsic value. Latine adolescents' science utility value, but not their science intrinsic value, predicted their concurrent STEM career expectations. Though there were no significant mean level differences in adolescents' science utility value or parents' science support based on adolescents' gender, the measure of adolescents' science intrinsic value varied across girls and boys. Finally, adolescents whose parents had a college degree received greater science support from parents compared to adolescents whose parents had less education than a college degree.
Conclusion Findings suggest parents' science support and adolescents' intrinsic and utility values have potential associations with Latine adolescents' STEM career expectations near the end of high school.
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There is growing interest in stories as potentially powerful tools for science learning. In this mini-review article, we discuss theory and evidence indicating that, especially for young children, listening to and sharing stories with adult caregivers at home can make scientific ideas and inquiry practices meaningful and accessible. We review recent research offering evidence that stories presented in books can advance children’s science learning. Nonetheless, most of this work focuses on middle-class European-American U. S. children and involves narrative story books. Given the national imperative to increase Latine 1 representation in STEM education and career pursuits in the U. S., we argue that it is vital that we broaden the definition of stories to include oral narrative storytelling and other conversational routines that Latine families engage in at home. Cultural communities with firmly rooted oral traditions, such as those from Latin American heritage, rely frequently on oral storytelling rather than book reading to convey world and community knowledge to young children. Therefore, we advocate for a strengths-based approach that considers Latine families’ everyday practices around science and storytelling on their own terms instead of contrasting them with European-American middle-class practices. We offer support for the view that for young children in Latine communities, culturally relevant oral practices, including personal narrative storytelling, can engender significant opportunities for family science learning at home.more » « less
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In this conceptual paper, we present our work in progress towards the theorization and operationalization of an asset-based pedagogy for STEM + Arts content infused with the aesthetic and speculative fiction movement of Latinofuturism. As Latine scholars, we aim to contribute to the education field with an alternative approach to support the Latine population who is still disproportionately underrepresented in the STEM fields. Through our review of the literature and media, we use the theoretical framework of Community Cultural Wealth, specifically its six forms of capital, to examine Latinofuturism as a genre that can connect STEM + Arts themes with Latine culture through speculative practices. We propose that asset-based pedagogies situated in Latinofuturism aesthetics provide emancipatory opportunities for Latine to dream and think beyond the current barriers of access to STEM + Arts and create a new STEM culture for and with Latine.more » « less
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null (Ed.)Objective: Identify factors that impact parents’ decisions about allowing an unaccompanied child to ride in an autonomous vehicle (AV). Background: AVs are being tested in several U.S. cit-ies and on highways in multiple states. Meanwhile, suburban parents are using ride sharing services to shuttle children from school to extracurricular activities. Parents may soon be able to hire AVs to transport children. Method: Nineteen parents of 8- to 16-year-old children, and some of their children, rode in a driving simulator in autonomous mode, then were interviewed. Parents also participated in focus groups. Topics included minimum age for solo child passengers, types of trips unaccompanied children might take, and vehicle features needed to support child passengers. Results: Parents would require two-way audio communication and prefer video feeds of vehicle interiors, seat belt checks, automatic locking, secure passenger identification, and remote access to vehicle information. Parents cited convenience as the greatest benefit and fear that AVs could not pro-ect passengers during unplanned trip interruptions as their greatest concern. Conclusion: Manufacturers have an opportunity to design family-friendly AVs from the outset, rather than retro-fit them to be safe for child passengers. More research, especially usability studies where families interact with technology prototypes, is needed to understand how AV design impacts child passengers. Application: Potential applications of this research include not only designing vehicles that can be used to safely transport children, seniors who no longer drive, and individuals with disabilities but also developing regulations, policies, and societal infrastructure to support safe child transport via AVsmore » « less
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
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