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1. Using narratives to evoke empathy in museum-based engineering activities

   Bennett, Dorothy ; Letourneau, Susan M. ; McMillan Culp, Katherine ; Liu, James ; Argudo, Yessenia ( April 2019 , American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting)

   In this design-based research project, researchers and activity developers across four institutions are investigating how narratives can evoke empathy and influence girls’ participation and engagement in museum-based engineering design activities. The project involves the development and testing of six pairs of engineering activities. Through iterative development of these activity pairs, we have refined a conceptual model defining how engineering activities can incorporate a variety of narrative elements to support empathy and engagement. In addition, each pair includes one version of the activity with narrative elements, and one without — for example, children design a vehicle that can move over different textured surfaces (non-narrative) or that can help someone travel around the world across different landscapes (narrative), allowing us to examine how narrative elements influence girls’ ideation and persistence in iterating their designs. We analyzed the number of children who participated in each version of the activities, average hold times, and detailed observations and follow-up interviews with girls between ages 7-14 who tried the activities with their families. Results showed that narrative versions invited greater participation among both girls and boys, and that different narrative elements (such as characters and settings) evoked different aspects of empathy (such as affective responses and cognitive perspective-taking). We discuss the implications of the results for the design and facilitation of inclusive engineering design experiences in informal learning settings. 

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2. 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. 

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3. Using Narrative to Engage Girls in Museum Engineering Design Tasks

   Bennett, D. ; Letourneau, S. ; Liu, C.C.J. ( July 2018 , Visitors Studies Association: Fostering Transparency, Fostering Public Trust)

   In this design-based research study, the New York Hall of Science, in collaboration with the Amazeum (Bentonville, AR), the Tech Museum (San Jose, CA), and the Creativity Labs (Indiana University), are examining how narratives can shape girls’ engagement in museum-based engineering activities. The project involves developing and testing six engineering activities that incorporate elements of narrative.Through iterative activity development, the project team is exploring how design prompts and materials can suggest narratives via characters, settings, or scenarios in a way that invites visitors’ perspective-taking and empathy. In addition, by comparing narrative and non-narrative versions of each activity, the team is gathering evidence about whether and how narratives support girls’ participation in engineering activities, as well as their persistence in creating and iterating solutions. This poster shares the beginning theoretical framework for defining narrative and empathy in museum-based engineering activities, as well as the results from three activities developed and tested by summer 2018. 

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4. Observing empathy in informal engineering activities with girls ages 7-14.

   Letourneau, S.M. ; Bennett, D. ; Liu, C.J. ; Argudo, Y. ; Peppler, K. ; Keune, A. ; Dahn, M. ; & Culp, K.M. ( July 2021 , Annual Conference and Exposition, American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE))

   null (Ed.)

   There is growing evidence that emphasizing the social and personal contexts of engineering can open up the field to people who have been conspicuously underrepresented, particularly women and girls. Recent research and advances in educational policy have advocated for reframing engineering education to prioritize social responsibility, empathy, and care for others as integral aspects of engineering practice. But how do we measure things like empathy in engineering practices of younger children? This paper features work from a three-year design-based research project in which we used narrative elements to frame engineering problems in ways that evoked empathy for others’ needs, and examined the intersections between expressions of empathy and engineering design practices among girls ages 7-14. This paper outlines the theoretical underpinnings of this approach, and our methods for observing empathy and engineering practices in this age group. 

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5. Exhibit Designs for Girls' Engagement ( EDGE )

   https://doi.org/10.1111/cura.12267  

   Dancstep ; Sindorf, Lisa ( July 2018 , Curator: The Museum Journal)

   This paper describes anNSF‐funded study which explored the relationship between female‐responsive exhibit designs and girls' engagement. Across three participating science centers, 906 museum visitors ages 8–13 were observed at 334 interactive physics, math, engineering, and perception exhibits. We measured girls' engagement based on whether they chose to use or return to the exhibits, opted to spend more time at them, or demonstrated deeper engagement behavior. Findings suggest that the design strategies identified in our previously developed Female‐Responsive Design Framework can inform exhibit designs that better engage girls. However, the specific design attributes that address the broader strategies are not all equal: we identified a subset of nine exhibit design attributes that were consistently strongly related to girls' engagement. Further, none of those nine design attributes were harmful to boys' engagement. In practice, we hope educators will help address gender disparities in museums by considering female‐responsive design when creatingSTEMexhibits: broadening their design approaches and choosing among the nineEDGEDesign Attributes based on their appropriateness for a particular exhibit experience or set of exhibits.

    

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