The Curriculum Puzzle: Developing and Integrating Materials to Localize a Curriculum

Nrupaja Bhide; Yağmur Önder; Sydney Free; Michael Dunham; Dhinesh Balaji Radhakrishnan; Jennifer Deboer

Download Paper | Permalink

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: Equity, Culture & Social Justice in Education Division (EQUITY) Technical Session 2
Tagged Divisions: Equity and Culture & Social Justice in Education Division (EQUITY)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 16
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44071
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/44071
Download Count: 290

Paper Authors

biography

Nrupaja Bhide Purdue University, West Lafayette

visit author page

Nrupaja is a graduate researcher at the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. She is interested in exploring how local knowledge can be centered in STEM curricula.

visit author page

biography

Yağmur Önder Purdue University, West Lafayette

visit author page

Yağmur Önder is an undergraduate at Purdue University majoring in Mechanical Engineering and minoring in Global Engineering Studies. She's involved with DeBoer Lab in Purdue's School of Engineering Education research where her work has involved studying intersectional and spatial visualization development.

visit author page

biography

Sydney Free Purdue University, West Lafayette

visit author page

Sydney Free is a junior in mechanical engineering at Purdue University and has been working with the DeBoer Lab within the Purdue School of Engineering Education since the Spring semester of 2022. Her work involves developing adaptable learning technologies for displaced communities.

visit author page

biography

Michael Dunham Purdue University, West Lafayette

visit author page

Michael Dunham is an undergraduate at Purdue majoring in Mechanical Engineering, and has worked with the DeBoer Lab in Purdue's school of Engineering Education Research since 2022. His work has focused on the use of educational tools in engineering curricula in displaced communities

visit author page

biography

Dhinesh Balaji Radhakrishnan Purdue University, West Lafayette orcid.org/0000-0001-6959-196X

visit author page

Dhinesh Radhakrishnan is a research scientist in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University.

visit author page

biography

Jennifer Deboer Purdue University, West Lafayette

visit author page

Jennifer DeBoer is currently Assistant Professor of Engineering Education at Purdue University. Her research focuses on international education systems, individual and social development, technology use and STEM learning, and educational environments for

visit author page

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

Formal education is venerated as a tool for an educated citizenry and upward social mobility. American universities have proffered education, engineering skills like problem-solving and critical thinking, and specifically engineering education (EE), as a tool for social mobility or individual agency within and outside the U.S. However, imposing curricula and pedagogy developed in American universities reinforces structures of marginalization in engineering and EE. Such curricula and pedagogies often promote hegemonic ways of knowing, doing and being in engineering.

Partnering with organizations that support the leadership of marginalized and displaced students in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Senegal, and the U.S., we critically question our role as EE researchers in the U.S. and reflect on our complicity in reinforcing structures of marginalization in EE. Through reflections, ongoing implementation, and discussions with practitioners, we have observed how a curriculum is socially constructed and reproduces the values of those with power.

Curriculum design requires a multi-dimensional approach to resist dominant ways of knowing, doing, and being in engineering. A localized and holistic curriculum requires more than simply adding context-specific examples. Instead, we see the curriculum as a puzzle. The challenge is to design a puzzle - a curriculum - in which, using the same pieces, learners can assemble different final pictures. While this may be impossible for a physical jigsaw puzzle, that is what a curriculum should do: use similar inputs to help learners get a range of outputs.

With this critical and multi-dimensional approach, the Localized Engineering in Displacement curriculum has evolved over the past seven years. In this paper, we focus on five recent developments: 1) EngStarter - a toolkit for tinkering and prototyping with electronic components, 2) a design notebook for students, 3) spatial visualization assessments, 4) a teacher guide and 5) co-design workshops to localize with teachers. We explore the drivers of relevant curricular design and share lessons from developing this curriculum.

We describe the curriculum design process, including detail of the five components and their interrelations. Additionally, we share illustrative examples to highlight how our reflections and reflexivity shaped the iterations of various curriculum components. Our paper is relevant for engineering educators and EE researchers who want to (re)design their curriculum and make it relevant to their students. It is also helpful for practitioners who strive to ensure that dominant curricula do not reinforce the exclusion of marginalized students. Our takeaways are that teachers and students are the most critical parts of curriculum design, they require a balance between flexibility and structure for a relevant learning experience, and that hegemonic ideas can be woven through the curriculum despite best efforts to be critical. Most importantly, we find that the more we localize, the more there is to localize; therefore, we need to split the puzzle into even smaller pieces.

Citation
Format

Bhide, N., & Önder, Y., & Free, S., & Dunham, M., & Radhakrishnan, D. B., & Deboer, J. (2023, June), The Curriculum Puzzle: Developing and Integrating Materials to Localize a Curriculum Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44071

TY - CPAPER
AB - Formal education is venerated as a tool for an educated citizenry and upward social mobility. American universities have proffered education, engineering skills like problem-solving and critical thinking, and specifically engineering education (EE), as a tool for social mobility or individual agency within and outside the U.S. However, imposing curricula and pedagogy developed in American universities reinforces structures of marginalization in engineering and EE. Such curricula and pedagogies often promote hegemonic ways of knowing, doing and being in engineering.

Partnering with organizations that support the leadership of marginalized and displaced students in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Senegal, and the U.S., we critically question our role as EE researchers in the U.S. and reflect on our complicity in reinforcing structures of marginalization in EE. Through reflections, ongoing implementation, and discussions with practitioners, we have observed how a curriculum is socially constructed and reproduces the values of those with power.

Curriculum design requires a multi-dimensional approach to resist dominant ways of knowing, doing, and being in engineering. A localized and holistic curriculum requires more than simply adding context-specific examples. Instead, we see the curriculum as a puzzle. The challenge is to design a puzzle - a curriculum - in which, using the same pieces, learners can assemble different final pictures. While this may be impossible for a physical jigsaw puzzle, that is what a curriculum should do: use similar inputs to help learners get a range of outputs.

With this critical and multi-dimensional approach, the Localized Engineering in Displacement curriculum has evolved over the past seven years. In this paper, we focus on five recent developments: 1) EngStarter - a toolkit for tinkering and prototyping with electronic components, 2) a design notebook for students, 3) spatial visualization assessments, 4) a teacher guide and 5) co-design workshops to localize with teachers. We explore the drivers of relevant curricular design and share lessons from developing this curriculum.

We describe the curriculum design process, including detail of the five components and their interrelations. Additionally, we share illustrative examples to highlight how our reflections and reflexivity shaped the iterations of various curriculum components. Our paper is relevant for engineering educators and EE researchers who want to (re)design their curriculum and make it relevant to their students. It is also helpful for practitioners who strive to ensure that dominant curricula do not reinforce the exclusion of marginalized students. Our takeaways are that teachers and students are the most critical parts of curriculum design, they require a balance between flexibility and structure for a relevant learning experience, and that hegemonic ideas can be woven through the curriculum despite best efforts to be critical. Most importantly, we find that the more we localize, the more there is to localize; therefore, we need to split the puzzle into even smaller pieces.

AU - Nrupaja Bhide
AU - Yağmur Önder
AU - Sydney Free
AU - Michael Dunham
AU - Dhinesh Balaji Radhakrishnan
AU - Jennifer Deboer
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - The Curriculum Puzzle: Developing and Integrating Materials to Localize a Curriculum
UR - https://peer.asee.org/44071
DO - 10.18260/1-2--44071
ER -