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1. Developing an Observation Protocol for Cooperative Learning

   Fong, M. ; Chen, H. ; Butler, L. ; Herman, G. ( July 2022 , American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition)

   Use of structured roles to facilitate cooperative learning is an evidence-based practice that has been shown to improve student performance, attitude, and persistence. The combination of structured roles and activities also helps build students’ process skills including communication and metacognition. While these benefits have been shown in a variety of disciplines, most prior work has focused on in-person, synchronous settings, and few studies have looked at online, synchronous settings. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we need a better understanding of how cooperative learning takes place online and what differences may exist between online and in-person modalities. This work-in-progress serves to document our development of an observation protocol to help us answer research questions such as the following: Do group members participate equally? Do group members’ contributions match their role? How do groups connect and bond with each other? How do groups seek help? 

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2. Impact of physical and social settings on parent engagement in learning through making

   Letourneau, S.M. ; McMillan Culp, K. ; Wells, D. ( April 2019 , American Educational Research Association)

   Previous research has documented the benefits of making for young learners, but few studies have examined how parents engage in maker activities during family visits to museums, both as facilitators of their children’s learning and as makers in their own right. In this study, we asked how caregivers participate in making and tinkering programs, how parents describe the benefits of making (for their children and themselves), and what aspects of the physical and social setting influence parents’ engagement. Data included observations of 88 family groups participating in various making and tinkering activities at a science center (including woodworking, fashion design, virtual reality drawing, circuit blocks, etc) and exit interviews with a subset of 66 caregivers. Qualitative data analysis connected observed qualities of the physical and social setting with caregivers’ observed and reported engagement. Through this analysis, we identified specific aspects of the physical environment, tools/materials, and facilitation strategies that invited family participation in general and that were associated with specific caregiver roles, including observing children’s learning, facilitation of children’s learning, and engagement as a maker alongside children. The implications of the findings for the design and facilitation of maker programs are discussed. 

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3. Making Makers: Tracing STEM Identity in Rural Communities

   Nixon, J. ( January 2021 , Journal of precollege engineering education research)

   null (Ed.)

   In this article, we describe efforts to reduce barriers of entry to pre-college engineering in a rural community by training local teens to become maker-mentors and staff a mobile makerspace in their community. Following Nasir and Cooks (2009), we bring a communities of practice frame to our inquiry, focusing on inbound and peripheral learning and identity trajectories as a mechanism for representing the maker-mentor experience (Wenger, 1998). Through a longitudinal case study, we traced the individual trajectories of five maker-mentors over two years. We found that maker-mentors who participated in mentorship training activities, collaborated with their peers on making projects, and co-facilitated events throughout the community were more likely to follow an inbound trajectory. Maker-mentors who participated in training activities and collaborative making projects, but only facilitated one or two of the twelve community events never moved beyond the periphery. We offer lessons learned from including a mentorship component in a pre-college maker program, an unusual design feature that afforded more opportunities to create inbound trajectories. A key affordance of the maker-mentor program was that it allowed teens to explore areas of making that were in line with their interests while still being a part of a larger community of practice. Understanding learning and identity trajectories will allow us to continually improve pre-college engineering programming and education opportunities that build on students’ funds of knowledge. 

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4. A Revaluation of How We Think about Making: Examining Assembly Practices and Artifact Imagination in Biomaking

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3311890.3311895  

   Lui, Debora ; Kafai, Yasmin B. ; Walker, Justice T. ; Hanna, Sheri ; Hogan, Karen ; Telhan, Orkan ( January 2019 , FabLearn ‘19)

   While much research focused on making emphasizes digital and tangible media, few studies have explored making with biology, or biomaking, where people use cells as fabrication units to grow or “make” desired materials for designing real world applications. This lack is especially glaring considering how biomaking and related industries are often aligned with a growing push toward sustainable production as a way of addressing the pressing environmental issues of the day. In order address how maker frameworks could be used as a productive way of bringing biomaking into K-12 contexts, we report on the design and implementation of a biomaking workshop where teams of high school students both assembled a physical biosensor and imagined applications for this technology to address real world issues. Using classroom observations, analysis of classroom projects, and focus group interviews, we examined student experiences and perceptions of these activities in order to ask: What the affordances and challenges of biomaking in supporting maker learning, especially with regard to the less common practices of assembly and imagining? In the discussion, we review what we learned about facilitating biomaking in K-12 setting, as well how our analysis led us to a revaluation of the often crucial but neglected role assembly plays in more ‘typical’ maker activities, and the possibilities for enriching maker activities by including design prototyping and imagination. 

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5. Inclusive Innovation: Reframing STEM Research in COVID-19

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--44802  

   Hamilton, Tamara ; Williams, Claudine-Lonje ; Bouldin, Chelsea ( February 2023 , ASEE Conferences)

   Undergraduate research has been found to be positively associated with obtaining a STEM baccalaureate degree, persisting in the field, and performing academically well. Underrepresented minority (UREP) students who participate in undergraduate research experiences show increased confidence in their abilities, understanding of the nature of research, and understanding of graduate school. In spring 2020, in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic, institutions were forced to make shifts in program offerings. As a result of the move to online learning, research experiences were either canceled, postponed or moved to a virtual format. COVID-19 presented a new opportunity for students to still participate in activities from remote locations. After in-person activities resumed, aspects of these virtual opportunities have continued to be embraced by programs through virtual symposiums, more intentional and in depth “checking-in” at the start of meetings, wellness focused workshops, and emphasized community building. Additionally, virtual research experiences have expanded the number of students participating in these programs. The purpose of this paper is to share lessons learned from a co-curricular program for underrepresented students that successfully made the shift from in-person research experiences to virtual and back to in-person. Program activities are guided by the literature on mentoring, STEM identity, community, and sense of belonging. Implications for practitioners and faculty include opportunities for mentoring through virtual platforms, the inclusion of family, friends, and community members through virtual research symposiums, continuing to focus on the mental health and well-being of students, and the acknowledgement of varying home environments to conduct research. 

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