Tampa, Florida
June 15, 2019
June 15, 2019
June 19, 2019
Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
7
10.18260/1-2--32173
https://peer.asee.org/32173
430
Dr. Joel Alejandro (Alex) Mejia is an assistant professor of Integrated Engineering at the University of San Diego. His current research investigates how the integration of funds of knowledge and engineering design can serve as a pathway to and through engineering. Dr. Mejia is particularly interested in how Latinx adolescents bring forth unique ways of knowing, doing, and being that provide them with particular ways of framing, approaching, and solving engineering problems. Dr. Mejia’s primary research interests lie at the intersection of engineering education and social justice. He is particularly interested in the integration of Chicanx Cultural Studies frameworks and pedagogies in engineering education, and critical consciousness in engineering through social justice.
Damian Ruiz is Assistant Director of the Cultural Proficiency Institute for Educators at San Diego State University's College of Extended Studies, where he designs and implements culturally responsive curriculum for current educators, institutions, and graduates. Damian is also Assistant Director of the Cultural Proficiency Minor at San Diego State University's College of Education, where he designs strengths-based, culturally responsive curriculum and counseling services for undergraduate students. Additionally, Damian is a Lecturer at San Diego State University for various Multicultural Education courses. His work is grounded in a social justice perspective to support equity-and inclusion-oriented initiatives in education.
Damian is currently a graduate student participating in San Diego State University's Master's in Education Program specializing in Critical Literacy and Social Justice.
Dr. Vitaliy Popov is the Associate Director of Research at the Jacobs Institute for Innovation in Education (JI) at the University of San Diego (USD), a research center named after Dr. Irwin and Joan Jacobs of Qualcomm that has a history in investigating best practices for technology in education. He has both a BA and MS in Education and Learning Sciences with a focus on engineering education, as well as a PhD in Educational Technology. For his dissertation, he looked at how technologies can foster cross-cultural collaboration for students from over 55 countries. Over the last eight years, he has presented and published papers on education and technology at AERA and in journals such as Computers in Human Behavior. Currently, he is serving as a co-principal investigator on two projects funded by the National Science Foundation (Awards #1826354 (RFE) and #1713547 (AISL)); one of these projects is developing a STEM summer camp that supports career pathways for Latinx students.
Alberto Esquinca is an Associate Professor in the Department of Dual Language and English Learner Education at San Diego State University.
Funds of knowledge are historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of cultural, social, historical and cognitive knowledge and skills that are essential for household and individual functioning and well-being. Using funds of knowledge in the classroom has been noted as an asset-based approach because students’ assets are explored while deficit notions of students’ abilities are challenged. The Asset-based Practices in Engineering Design (APRENDE) project focuses on both middle school students and their teachers. It offers the opportunity to have an early impact on students’ engineering interest while also providing teachers with a broader perspective of how to develop students’ engineering habits of mind and dispositions using funds of knowledge. The goal of this three-year project is (1) to provide opportunities for teachers to develop an understanding of and appreciation for funds of knowledge, (2) to support them in integrating funds of knowledge into their engineering design class, and (3) to examine how such integration of funds of knowledge can impact Latinx students’ and English Language Learners’ interest in and knowledge of engineering. We posit that effective engineering learning happens when teachers blend funds of knowledge with the engineering design process.
The overarching goal of this mixed methods study is to generate knowledge on how and to what extent the integration of funds of knowledge and engineering design can serve as a pathway to and through engineering for Latinx students while helping teachers and students recognize funds of knowledge as assets in solving engineering problems. The first year of this study is guided by the following research question: What strategies are most helpful in developing teachers' understanding and elicitation of students' funds of knowledge? Data collected from interviews, focus groups, classroom observations, and digital reflective logs will be used to identify how participation in the APRENDE Project impact teachers' understanding of funds of knowledge and how these can be aligned to engineering design processes, habits of mind, and dispositions. The data will be collected as the teachers work with the research team in co-constructing engineering activities and subsequent implementation in their classrooms. This poster and associated paper will report on the initial findings of this exploratory study during the first year.
Mejia, J. A., & Ruiz, D., & Popov, V., & Esquinca, A., & Gadbois, D. (2019, June), Board 104: Asset-based Practices in Engineering Design (APRENDE): Development of a Funds-of-Knowledge Approach for the Formation of Engineers Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--32173
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