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1. (Work in Progress) Examining how students critically evaluate racial bias in a medical device in a first-year computing course

   Pangan, T. J.; Andrews, C. (August 2022, 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   Engineering has historically been positioned as “objective” and “neutral” (Cech, 2014), supporting a technical/social dualism in which “hard” technical skills are valued over “soft” social skills such as empathy and team management (Faulkner, 2007). Disrupting this dualism will require us to transform the way that engineering is taught, to include the social, economic, and political aspects of engineering throughout the curriculum. One promising approach to integrating social and technical is through developing students’ critical sociotechnical literacy, supporting students in coming to “understand the intrinsic and systemic sociotechnical relationship between people, communities, and the built environment” (McGowan & Bell, 2020, p. 981). This work-in-progress study is part of a larger NSF-funded research project that explores integrating sociotechnical topics with technical content knowledge in a first-year engineering computing course. This course has previously focused on teaching students how to code, the basics of data science, and some applications to engineering. The revised course engages students in a series of sociotechnical topics, such as analyzing and interpreting data-based evidence of environmental racism. Each week, students read short articles and write reflections to prepare for in-class small group discussions. Near the end of the semester, students examined the topic of racial bias in medical equipment. Students read two popular news articles that discussed differences in accuracies of pulse oximeter readings for patients with different skin tones. We analyze students’ reflection responses for evidence of their developing sociotechnical literacy along three dimensions: (1) bias, (2) differential impact, and (3) responsibility. This exploratory case study employs thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to analyze the students’ written reflections for this topic. Students reflected on evidence of racial bias and potential causes of bias in the device, how this bias is located in and furthers historical patterns of racism in medicine, and considered who or what might be responsible for either causing or fixing the now-known racial bias. 

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2. Board 308: Improving Students’ Sociotechnical Literacy in Engineering

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--46886  

   Danahy, Ethan; Andrews, Chelsea; Cantilina, Kaylla; Cross, Jennifer (June 2024, ASEE Conferences)

   The Improving Students’ Sociotechnical Literacy in Engineering project aims to integrate social justice topics with technical knowledge in a first-year engineering course. The approach involves redesigning an existing intro to computing course with justice-based activities, supported by an Equity Learning Assistant (ELA) program. This program trains upperclass students to facilitate in-class discussions on equity and social justice. The project targets improvements in students' critical sociotechnical literacy and engineering identity. Activities include analyzing ethically complex data sets and developing equity-focused projects, while encouraging students to integrate social, economic, and political dimensions into their engineering work. This initiative spans four years (one pilot year plus three NSF-funded iterations) and involves a multidisciplinary research team of engineers and education researchers. 

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3. Learning designs that empower: navigating sandbox data science at the intersection of computing, big data and social media

   https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-12-2023-0211  

   Barany, Amanda; Scarola, Andi Danielle; Acquah, Alex; Reza, Sayed Mohsin; Johnson, Michael A; Walker, Justice (August 2024, Information and Learning Sciences)

   PurposeThere is a need for precollege learning designs that empower youth to be epistemic agents in contexts that intersect burgeoning areas of computing, big data and social media. The purpose of this study is to explore how “sandbox” or open-inquiry data science with social media supports learning. Design/methodology/approachThis paper offers vignettes from an illustrative youth study case that highlights the pedagogical prospects and obstacles tied to designing for open-ended inquiry with computational data science to access or “scrape” Twitter/X. The youth case showcases how social media can be taken up productively and in ways that facilitate epistemological agency, an approach where individuals actively shape understanding and knowledge-creation processes, highlighting the potentially transformative impact this approach might have in empowering learners to engage productively. FindingsThe authors identify three key affordances for learning that emerged from the illustrative case: (1) flexible opportunities for content-specific domain mastery, (2) situated inquiry that embodies next-generation science practices and (3) embedded computational skill development. The authors discuss these findings in relation to contemporary education needs to broaden participation in data science and computing. Originality/valueTo address challenges in current data science education associated with supporting sustained and productive engagement in computing-based data science, the authors leverage a “sandbox” approach – an original pedagogical framework to support open inquiry with precollege groups. The authors demonstrate how “big data” drawn from social media with high school-aged youth supports learning designs and outcomes by emphasizing learner interests and authentic practice. 

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4. Examining the minimal combined effects of gender and minoritized racial/ethnic identity among academic entrepreneurs

   https://doi.org/10.1108/ijge-03-2023-0050  

   Duval-Couetil, Nathalie; Epstein, Alanna; Huang-Saad, Aileen (July 2024, International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship)

   PurposeThis study examined differences related to gender and racial/ethnic identity among academic researchers participating in the National Science Foundation’s “Innovation-Corps” (NSF I-Corps) entrepreneurship training program. Drawing from prior research in the fields of technology entrepreneurship and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, this study addresses the goal of broadening participation in academic entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approachUsing ANOVA and MANOVA analyses, we tested for differences by gender and minoritized racial/ethnic identity for four variables considered pertinent to successful program outcomes: (1) prior entrepreneurial experience, (2) perceptions of instructional climate, (3) quality of project team interactions and (4) future entrepreneurial intention. The sample includes faculty (n = 434) and graduate students (n = 406) who completed pre- and post-course surveys related to a seven-week nationwide training program. FindingsThe findings show that group differences based on minoritized racial/ethnic identity compared with majority group identity were largely not evident. Previous research findings were replicated for only one variable, indicating that women report lower amounts of total prior entrepreneurial experience than men, but no gender differences were found for other study variables. Originality/valueOur analyses respond to repeated calls for research in the fields of entrepreneurship and STEM education to simultaneously examine intersecting minoritized and/or under-represented social identities to inform recruitment and retention efforts. The unique and large I-Corps national dataset offered the statistical power to quantitatively test for differences between identity groups. We discuss the implications of the inconsistencies in our analyses with prior findings, such as the need to consider selection bias. 

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5. Surfacing the complex conceptions of equity across making and tinkering spaces

   https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-10-2022-0115  

   Roque, Ricarose; Hladik, Stephanie; Moreno, Celeste; Hayden, Ronni (July 2023, Information and Learning Sciences)

   PurposeRelatively few studies have examined the perspectives of informal learning facilitators who play key roles in cultivating an equitable learning environment for nondominant youth and families in making and tinkering spaces. This study aims to foreground the perspectives of facilitators and highlight the complexities and tensions that influence their equity work. Design/methodology/approachInterviews were conducted with facilitators of making and tinkering spaces across three informal learning organizations: a museum, a public library system and a network of community technology centers. This study then used a framework that examined equity along dimensions of access to what, for whom, based on whose values and toward what ends to analyze both the explicit and implicit conceptions of equity that surfaced in these interviews. FindingsAcross organizations, this study identified similarities and differences in facilitators’ conceptualizations of equity that were influenced by their different contexts and had implications for practice at each organization. Highlighting the complexity of enacting equity in practice, this study found moments when dimensions of equity came together in resonant ways, while other moments showed how dimensions can be in tension with each other. Practical implicationsThe complexity that facilitators must navigate to enact equity in their practice emphasizes the need for professional development and support for facilitators to deepen their conceptions and practices around equity beyond access – not just skill building in making and tinkering. Originality/valueThis study recognizes the important role that facilitators play in enabling equity-oriented participation in making and tinkering spaces and contributes the “on the ground” perspectives of facilitators to highlight the complexity and tensions of enacting equity in practice. 

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