Exploring the nature of engineering during home-based engineering activities designed for Spanish- and English-speaking families with young children (Fundamental, Diversity)

Catherine Wagner; Gina Navoa Svarovsky; Mia Lettau; Kimberly Marfo; Andrea Lorena Ortiz; Delaney Ryan; Scott A. Pattison; Smirla Ramos-Montañez; Viviana López Burgos; Sabrina De Los Santos Rodríguez; Maria D. Quijano; Amy R Corbett

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE) Technical Session 6: Engineering in the Home
Tagged Division: Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 28
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--43638
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/43638
Download Count: 361

Paper Authors

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Catherine Wagner University of Notre Dame orcid.org/0009-0007-9036-2775

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Catherine Wagner is a research staff member at the Center for STEM Education at the University of Notre Dame. She earned her Master of Education degree from Notre Dame in 2019 while teaching middle school science. She has collaborated with faculty in the Center for STEM on engineering research for several years, most recently leading an undergraduate research lab on early childhood engineering research. In the Center, she also supports other research projects on science pedagogy.

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Gina Navoa Svarovsky University of Notre Dame

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Gina Navoa Svarovsky is an Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Notre Dame's Center for STEM Education and the Faculty Director of the University's Center for Broader Impacts. She has studied how young people learn engineering for nearly two decades.

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Andrea is an Engineering MSc student with a major in Engineering, Design & Innovation and a PE Diploma in Information Technologies at the Computer Sciences Department in the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC). She entered university throught Talent and Inclusion Program. She is interested in STEM education, equal opportunities in STEM education (gender and social disparities) and engineering design related to computer sciences. She has worked as a researcher at the DILAB UC (Engineering Design Initiative) in Chile where she has also worked as a Teaching Assistant in Design Lab Studio (2019-1, 2, 2020-1), and Technology, Entrepreneurship and Design (2021).

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Delaney Ryan

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Scott A. Pattison

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Smirla Ramos-Montañez

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Viviana López Burgos

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Sabrina De Los Santos Rodríguez

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Maria D. Quijano

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Amy R Corbett

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Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increasing emphasis on exploring engineering with early childhood learners (English & Moore, 2018; NASEM, 2021). The majority of these studies have focused on observing young children playing with building materials (Bagiati & Evangelou, 2016; Gold et al., 2021) or examining engineering in the pre-school classroom (Cunningham et al.; 2018; Fleer, 2020; Lippard et al., 2019). However, few studies (Ata-Akturk & Olzen, 2020; Authors, Date) have focused on exploring engineering in the home setting, which is a powerful learning environment for early learners that involves the other members of the household. Developing a deeper understanding of the engineering that can take place during engineering activities designed for the home, as well as what activity elements might lead to meaningful engineering engagement, can inform the design of new activities for early childhood engineering as well as broaden our perspectives on what types of engineering practice are possible with young children.

In this paper, we conducted a secondary analysis of video data collected during a design-based research study to address the following research questions: 1) What is the nature of the engineering talk and practice demonstrated by families engaging in engineering activities designed for the home? 2) Did the nature of the engineering change across three rounds of activity testing, as activities were responsively refined as part of the DBR study? If so, in what ways?

We present data from the primary design-based research study that iteratively investigated three different engineering activities for young learners (ages 4 to 5) and their families. Each of the activities included three elements: 1) a rich narrative context, supported by items such as a storybook and plush toys connected to the characters; 2) physical materials used to create design solutions, such as blocks or craft items; and 3) a specific design challenge prompt and extension questions, articulated on a one-page laminated activity guide included with the activity kit. All printed materials included in the activity kits were bilingual for Spanish and English.

Fifteen families, balanced by Spanish- and English-speaking language preferences, were recruited to participate in collaboration with a local community organization that offers interactive programming for 4- and 5-year olds and their caregivers. Using their phones, families recorded themselves during the first time using each activity kit in their homes. Between the first and second rounds of testing, as well as the second and third rounds, video data was analyzed by our bilingual research team and modifications were made to each of the activities in order to potentially deepen and enhance the nature of the engineering talk and practice shared by the families in their videos. After the completion of the DBR mini-cycles, the research team engaged in a retrospective analysis in order to more fully understand the engineering present in the family interactions. Subsequently, a secondary analysis of the video data was conducted. This paper presents two findings from the secondary analysis: 1) that families engaged in a wide range of engineering talk and practice, and 2) that specific engineering practices - such as user-centered design - seemed to increase across the three rounds of testing. These findings make a contribution to the field’s knowledge of early childhood engineering contexts by demonstrating what engineering is possible for early learners within the home environment.

Citation
Format

Wagner, C., & Svarovsky, G. N., & Lettau, M., & Marfo, K., & Ortiz, A. L., & Ryan, D., & Pattison, S. A., & Ramos-Montañez, S., & López Burgos, V., & De Los Santos Rodríguez, S., & Quijano, M. D., & Corbett, A. R. (2023, June), Exploring the nature of engineering during home-based engineering activities designed for Spanish- and English-speaking families with young children (Fundamental, Diversity) Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43638

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - In recent years, there has been an increasing emphasis on exploring engineering with early childhood learners (English &amp;amp; Moore, 2018; NASEM, 2021). The majority of these studies have focused on observing young children playing with building materials (Bagiati &amp;amp; Evangelou, 2016; Gold et al., 2021) or examining engineering in the pre-school classroom (Cunningham et al.; 2018; Fleer, 2020; Lippard et al., 2019). However, few studies (Ata-Akturk &amp;amp; Olzen, 2020; Authors, Date) have focused on exploring engineering in the home setting, which is a powerful learning environment for early learners that involves the other members of the household. Developing a deeper understanding of the engineering that can take place during engineering activities designed for the home, as well as what activity elements might lead to meaningful engineering engagement, can inform the design of new activities for early childhood engineering as well as broaden our perspectives on what types of engineering practice are possible with young children. 

In this paper, we conducted a secondary analysis of video data collected during a design-based research study to address the following research questions: 1) What is the nature of the engineering talk and practice demonstrated by families engaging in engineering activities designed for the home? 2) Did the nature of the engineering change across three rounds of activity testing, as activities were responsively refined as part of the DBR study? If so, in what ways?

We present data from the primary design-based research study that iteratively investigated three different engineering activities for young learners (ages 4 to 5) and their families. Each of the activities included three elements: 1) a rich narrative context, supported by items such as a storybook and plush toys connected to the characters; 2) physical materials used to create design solutions, such as blocks or craft items; and 3) a specific design challenge prompt and extension questions, articulated on a one-page laminated activity guide included with the activity kit. All printed materials included in the activity kits were bilingual for Spanish and English. 

Fifteen families, balanced by Spanish- and English-speaking language preferences, were recruited to participate in collaboration with a local community organization that offers interactive programming for 4- and 5-year olds and their caregivers. Using their phones, families recorded themselves during the first time using each activity kit in their homes. Between the first and second rounds of testing, as well as the second and third rounds, video data was analyzed by our bilingual research team and modifications were made to each of the activities in order to potentially deepen and enhance the nature of the engineering talk and practice shared by the families in their videos. After the completion of the DBR mini-cycles, the research team engaged in a retrospective analysis in order to more fully understand the engineering present in the family interactions. Subsequently, a secondary analysis of the video data was conducted. This paper presents two findings from the secondary analysis: 1) that families engaged in a wide range of engineering talk and practice, and 2) that specific engineering practices - such as user-centered design - seemed to increase across the three rounds of testing. These findings make a contribution to the field’s knowledge of early childhood engineering contexts by demonstrating what engineering is possible for early learners within the home environment.  

AU  - Catherine Wagner
AU  - Gina Navoa Svarovsky
AU  - Mia Lettau
AU  - Kimberly Marfo
AU  - Andrea Lorena Ortiz
AU  - Delaney Ryan
AU  - Scott A. Pattison
AU  - Smirla Ramos-Montañez
AU  - Viviana López Burgos
AU  - Sabrina De Los Santos Rodríguez
AU  - Maria D. Quijano
AU  - Amy R Corbett
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Exploring the nature of engineering during home-based engineering activities designed for Spanish- and English-speaking families with young children (Fundamental, Diversity)
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/43638
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--43638
ER  -