Collaborative Research: Engineering a Community-Family Partnership: Developing a Program Aimed at Making and Design Practices in Home Environments

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Families play a vital role in children's paths toward STEM careers yet little is knowns about how this influence works. This project addresses this knowledge gap by developing, implementing, and refining a program for integrating Making and engineering design practices into the home environments of families from under-resourced communities. The researchers hypothesize that an intervention focused on engaging underserved youth and their caregivers about ways to implement Making/engineering design practices in their home will enhance their awareness of and affinity for STEM careers relative to those who do not participate. The project has 3 specific aims. (1) Investigate features of the intervention that best support participation and implementation of Making/engineering design practices in home environments. (2) Investigate changes in each youth's STEM identity in relation to engaging in Making/engineering design practices with caregivers in their home. (3) Examine shifts in parental: (a) views of engineering, (b) support for their child's engagement in engineering design practices, and (c) beliefs about engineering as a viable degree/career option for their child. The project is unique in that it takes a rare process look at how students and families engage in home-based STEM activities. It concurrently assesses families' readiness to support STEM career awareness and children's engagement in home-based STEM activities. The target audience is families with children in grades 3-6 enrolled in Title I schools in Bloomington, Indiana and Broome County, New York. Project partners include the Boys and Girls Clubs in these communities who assist with recruitment and with the delivery of the intervention, Family Making Nights. At home, families will document their design activities as they unfold. Stimulated recall with video and semi-structured interviews will help the research team understand families' thinking about what occurred during the activities. The use of a comparison group allows the team to compare the behaviors and outcomes associated with "trained" and "untrained" family supports. Grounded in social cognitive career theory and research on interest, the project's focus on identity development has potential to inform theories of social learning. As such, the project will advance the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program's efforts to better understand and promote practices that increase student motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.