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1. Centering teacher and parent voice to realize culturally relevant computational thinking in early childhood

   Frances K. Harper, Lori A. (January 2023, Early childhood research quarterly)

   The specific mechanisms by which teachers and parents can provide culturally relevant opportunities for computational thinking for racially/ethnically and linguistically diverse groups of preschoolers remain unknown. Accordingly, the purpose of this research is to examine how PreK parent and teacher voice directed efforts to realize a culturally relevant computing program. We drew data sources from a subsample of design-based research meetings in which partners collaborated to co-develop the first iteration of the program. Using qualitative analysis, we examined how parent voice and teacher voice, conceptualized as perspectives and participation, influenced theories of culturally responsive computing and computational thinking in early childhood education and the translation of theory into practice in classroom and home settings. Findings showed that connecting powerful ideas from computational thinking, namely algorithms and problem solving (e.g., debugging), to familiar activities and experiences served as a powerful entry point. Yet, differences arose in how teachers and parents conceptualized culturally relevant computing and made connections to familiar routines. We discuss what can be learned from parent voice in regards to bolstering children's self-expression, access to increasingly complex computational thinking tasks, and opportunities for learning cultural and community values through computing. 

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2. Don't throw the “bad” ideas away! Multidimensional top scoring increases reliability of divergent thinking tasks

   https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000571  

   Forthmann, Boris; Karwowski, Maciej; Beaty, Roger E (April 2023, Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts)

   Scoring divergent thinking tasks opens multiple avenues and possibilities – decisions researchers have to make. While some scholars postulate that scoring should focus on the best ideas provided, the measurement of the best responses (e.g., “top scoring”) comes along with challenges. More specifically, compared to the average quality across all responses, top scoring uses less information—the “bad” ideas are thrown away—which decreases reliability. To resolve this issue, this article introduces a multidimensional top-scoring approach analogous to linear growth modeling which retains information provided by all responses (best ideas and “bad” ideas). Across two studies, using both subjective human ratings and semantic distance originality scoring of responses to over a dozen divergent thinking tasks, we demonstrated that Maximum (the best idea) and Top2 Scoring (two best ideas) could surpass typically applied average scoring in measurement precision when the “bad” ideas’ originality is used as auxiliary information (i.e., additional information in the analysis). We thus recommend retaining all ideas when scoring divergent thinking tasks, and we discuss the potential this new approach holds for creativity research and practice. 

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3. Ethnic-racial discrimination experiences and ethnic-racial identity predict adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment: Evidence for a compensatory risk-resilience model

   https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025420912013  

   Sladek, Michael R.; Umaña-Taylor, Adriana J.; Oh, Grace; Spang, Mary Beth; Tirado, Liliana M.; Vega, Luz M.; McDermott, Elana R.; Wantchekon, Kristia A. (March 2020, International Journal of Behavioral Development)

   Theory and empirical evidence indicate that ethnic-racial discrimination serves as a risk factor for adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment, whereas ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development promotes positive youth adjustment and can mitigate the negative outcomes of discrimination-related risk. In Colombia, the legacies of an ethnic-racial hierarchy, mestizaje ideology (i.e., the assumption that everyone is racially mixed), and contemporary multiculturalism education reforms create a unique context for understanding adolescents’ experiences of ethnic-racial discrimination, ERI development, and their implications for psychosocial adjustment. In this study of Colombian adolescents (N = 462; Mage = 15.90 years; 47.3% female), almost 40% of participants reported experiencing ethnic-racial-based discrimination. Experiencing more frequent ethnic-racial discrimination was associated with lower self-esteem and higher depressive symptoms, whereas higher ERI resolution (i.e., gaining sense of clarity about ethnic-racial group membership) and affirmation (i.e., feeling positively about ethnic-racial group membership) were associated with higher self-esteem and lower depressive symptoms. ERI exploration (i.e., learning history and gaining knowledge about ethnic-racial group membership) was also associated with higher self-esteem and moderated the association between discrimination and depressive symptoms, such that this association was stronger at higher compared to lower levels of ERI exploration. Findings provide novel evidence for ethnic-racial-related risk and resilience processes among Colombian youth. 

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4. Exploring the Development of Engineering Design Creativity and the Role of Spatial Skills in this Process

   Reid, Clodagh; Sorby, Sheryl (September 2023, SEFI Conference Proceedings)

   This study aims to investigate the development of creativity in engineering education and how spatial skills relate to creativity of design solutions. Undergraduate students in the first (n=86) and fourth/fifth year (n=48) of their engineering programme were invited to participate. Students completed four spatial tests to precisely measure visualisation skills. In a separate session, students were invited back to solve two engineering design tasks: a ping pong problem where they designed a ping pong ball launcher game to meet specified criteria and a rain catcher problem where they were tasked with developing as many ideas for capturing rainwater as a water source for a remote location as they could. Students were asked not to consider feasibility, cost, etc. and to come up multiple radical solutions to the rainwater capture problem. The creativity of design solutions was assessed using Adaptive Comparative Judgement. Statistical analysis indicated significant relationships between spatial skills, students’ year of study and gender. A statistically significant relationship was also found between students’ creativity scores on both design challenges. No statistical differences were determined in the creativity of first and fourth/fifth year students’ solutions. These findings will be discussed relative to existing research, future work, and potential implications for education practice. 

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5. Latent value in humiliation: A design thinking tool to enhance empathy in creative ideation

   https://doi.org/10.1080/21650349.2021.1976677  

   Svihla, Vanessa; Kachelmeier, Luke (January 2021, International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation)

   Design thinking emphasizes that in addition to being creative, design solutions should be empathetic. Yet, research suggests there may be a tension between these goals, where focusing on empathy comes at a cost to creativity, sometimes by inducing fixation. We investigated this phenomenon through a quasi-experimental design with novice designers, contrasting two structured ideation techniques in which participants (N = 47) generated bad ideas prior to proposing beneficial ideas. Specifically, they used the wrong theory protocol (WTP) to generate harmful and humiliating ideas, and a variant in which they instead generated silly and impossible ideas (SIP). We used qualitative analysis to characterize their bad and beneficial ideas. Across two realistic design challenges, we found students’ initial bad design work was shaped by the technique they used, and that those who generated humiliating ideas were more likely to generate empathetic beneficial ideas afterward. No systematic differences were found in the breadth of solution ideas, suggesting this technique does not come at a cost to creativity. As a quick and easy-to-use technique, generating humiliating ideas prior to generating beneficial ideas holds promise as a means to reach design solutions that are both empathetic and creative. 

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