skip to main content

Explore Research Products in the NSF-PAR

Title: Caregivers’ Role-taking during the Use of Discussion Prompts in At-Home Engineering Kits
This study presents a video-based case study of families who used discussion prompts in the at-home engineering kits. We examine different roles that caregivers took on during the implementation of the prompts to organize families’ engineering learning activities. Narrative accounts and transcriptions were analyzed to investigate the different roles that caregivers took. Three roles emerged: caregivers as monitor; caregivers as mentor; caregivers as partner. We further coded families’ talks to investigate how three different caregivers’ roles influenced families’ engineering practices and caregiver-child talk types. Preliminary findings illustrate how three caregivers’ roles enabled and constrained different types of engineering practices and caregiver-child talk types. Findings contribute to future considerations in designing discussion prompts for at-home engineering kits.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1759314
NSF-PAR ID:
10284803
Author(s) / Creator(s):
;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
International Society of the Learning Sciences
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ; ( , American Society for Engineering Education)
    We began this project with three goals: (1) engage families in engineering activities, (2) increase the awareness of kids and caregivers as to what engineering is, and (3) increase children’ interest in engineering. We focused on caregivers and home environments because of the important role that at-home experiences with STEM play in triggering interest for many individuals who enter STEM professions. We created and distributed four different kits to families interested in engaging in STEM activities at home. Each kit included a challenge around engineering-related content (e.g., circuits, construction) and contained activity instructions (child) and a facilitation guide (caregivers). However, few instructions were given to caregivers about the expectations of their role while engaging with their children. This paper reports on the findings from family engagement in the Watercolor Bot kit. We sought to explore the roles enacted and behaviors utilized by caregivers as they supported their children during the activity. Our findings add to the conversation about how to define and conceptualize caregiver roles and how the home context/setting influences the types of supports caregivers provide. In contrast to emerging work on caregiver support, we argue that it may be more fruitful to think about the types of support (physical, verbal, content, and managerial) offered rather than defining specific roles (e.g., collaborator, project manager, etc.). We provide implications for designing kits and activities to include specific support for caregivers beyond simply providing project-specific instructions that address caregivers’ needs. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ( , American Society for Engineering Education)
    null (Ed.)
    Research on interactions between caregivers and children have long been reported in science museum experiences. However, the interactions between caregivers and children in home environments are rarely investigated. By comparison, research on the experience of the engineering design challenge activities in a family context is even less. This case study aimed to examine interactions of two families in their home as they engaged with engineering design challenge kits that have the potential to support children’s foundational understanding of STEM concepts. Using social-cultural constructivism as a lens, about 370 minutes of video data was analyzed. Data coding revealed three types of interactions that facilitated children’s understanding of STEM concepts: teaching, build up, and synthesized moments. These three moments were interdependent but included different emphasis of caregivers’ and children’s engagement. Although there is a limitation of this study to generalize the findings, our results contribute to understand how caregivers and children play with the materials, tools, and their ideas in their home environments and how caregivers used different facilitation approaches without any training prior to engaging with the engineering kits. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ( , Zone 1 Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education)
    Research on interactions between caregivers and children have long been reported in science museum experiences. However, the interactions between caregivers and children in home environments are rarely investigated. By comparison, research on the experience of the engineering design challenge activities in a family context is even less. This case study aimed to examine interactions of two families in their home as they engaged with engineering design challenge kits that have the potential to support children’s foundational understanding of STEM concepts. Using social-cultural constructivism as a lens, about 370 minutes of video data was analyzed. Data coding revealed three types of interactions that facilitated children’s understanding of STEM concepts: teaching, build up, and synthesized moments. These three moments were interdependent but included different emphasis of caregivers’ and children’s engagement. Although there is a limitation of this study to generalize the findings, our results contribute to understand how caregivers and children play with the materials, tools, and their ideas in their home environments and how caregivers used different facilitation approaches without any training prior to engaging with the engineering kits. 
    more » « less
  4. ( , Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2023)
    Blikstein, P. (Ed.)
    The home environment is a critical context in which children engage in STEM activities. Caregivers serve as key influencers on their children’s engagement in these activities. This case study of four families explored how caregivers support their child(ren) during moments of problem-solving while completing engineering activities at home and illustrated the variation in caregiver support, caregiver participation/child agency, problem-solving strategies used, and integration of activities into the home. Our findings suggest we need to be purposeful in designing kit activities and supports for caregivers that will contribute to meaningful interactions during STEM activities that draw upon the unique relationship between caregivers and their children in the home. 
    more » « less
  5. ( , International Society of the Learning Sciences)
    The purpose of this study is to investigate how different facilitator roles (educator, adult caregiver, peer and self-facilitation) influence children’s learning engagement--specifically, the learning practices of seeking and sharing resources (SSR)--in a museum’s makerspace. We address two research questions: 1). In what ways do learners' engagement vary when facilitated by different facilitator roles? 2). In what ways do different types of facilitators influence SSR practices across age ranges? The results show that facilitation from caregivers and self-directed facilitation is associated with significantly more SSR practices. Additionally, we found that the influence of different types of facilitators on learning engagement varies across ages. Self-directed learning is associated with an increase of SSR as children grow, while facilitation from caregivers is associated with a decline of SSR as children age. Based on these findings, we discuss implications for facilitation in museum makerspace. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email