Diálogos: Harnessing Latinx Community Cultural Wealth to Support Executive Function in Early Childhood through Family Engineering Experiences

该奖项的部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。资源不足的拉丁裔社区在获得高质量的STEM教育和STEM职业方面面临着持续的障碍，特别是在工程领域。对于来自这些社区的幼儿及其家庭来说，执行功能技能的发展为支持教育成功和为儿童参与STEM实践和内容做好准备提供了有希望的途径。执行功能技能，如集中注意力、保持信息和管理情绪，对儿童的发展和长期成功至关重要，已被确定为参与STEM实践和内容的核心，无论是在学校内外。然而，到目前为止，许多关于执行功能技能发展的工作都是在白人中产阶级儿童身上进行的，在很大程度上忽视了包括拉丁裔家庭在内的其他社区的知识、价值观或观点。在利用以家庭为基础的STEM活动支持执行职能技能方面，也存在着类似的差距，即对文化响应办法的关注。综上所述，迫切需要与Latinx社区合作，使用基于股权的框架重新想象STEM学习和执行职能技能的交集。这一试点和可行性项目将开发和测试一种新的参与式对话方法，该方法利用非正式的家庭工程活动，支持来自拉美裔家庭的学龄前儿童执行功能技能的发展。这项建议将父母作为研究伙伴的独特参与与工程和执行功能的研究相结合，可能为未来以公平为重点的研究计划奠定基础。三个研究问题将指导这项研究：1)拉美裔家庭中已经存在哪些与这些执行功能技能相关的知识、资产和实践？2)哪些方面的执行功能技能可以通过非正式的家庭工程活动得到支持？以及3)在调整非正式的家庭工程活动以突出家庭资产和支持幼儿的执行功能技能方面，有哪些有前景的设计策略？为了解决这些问题，项目团队将让拉美裔父母参与一系列对话，其中父母是核心合作者，分享他们的深入观点，并与研究人员合作制定概念框架和新方法。通过这些正在进行的讨论产生的数据将使用以下方法进行分析：(A)定性、参与性方法，包括与家长反复共同开发和完善紧急主题；(B)利用扎根的理论技术对家长对话小组讨论进行详细的归纳编码；(C)在项目结束时进行回顾分析。家长对话系列将得到系统的文献回顾的支持，该文献回顾了工程设计、执行职能以及Latinx家族内的优势和资产之间的交叉。探索性研究的结果将包括(1)与家长共同开发的概念框架，该框架突出了利用家庭工程设计活动来支持来自拉美裔家庭的学龄前儿童的执行功能技能的有希望的机会和设计战略，以及(2)研究议程，概述了反映该社区目标和兴趣的未来工作的问题和优先事项。与项目的公平方法相一致，该团队将与项目合作伙伴和家庭合作进行传播，重点放在放大社区的声音，分享挑战和成功，并支持当地社区的改进。这一试点和可行性项目由推进非正式STEM学习计划(AISL)资助，旨在：(A)促进对非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解；(B)为扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验提供多种途径；(C)促进对非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估；以及(D)让所有年龄段的公众在非正式环境中学习STEM。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).It has been well documented that under-resourced Latinx communities face persistent barriers to accessing quality STEM education and STEM careers, particularly in the field of engineering. For young children and their families from these communities, the development of executive function skills offers promising pathways to support educational success and prepare children to engage with STEM practices and content. Executive function skills, such as focusing attention, retaining information, and managing emotions are critical for children’s development and long-term success, and have been identified as central to engagement with STEM practices and content, whether in or out of school. However, much of the work on development of executive function skills to date has been conducted with White, middle-class children and has largely ignored the knowledge, values, or perspectives of other communities, including Latinx families. Similar gaps also exist in attention to culturally responsive approaches to using family-based STEM activities to support executive function skills. Taken together, there is a critical need to work with Latinx communities to re-imagine the intersection of STEM learning and executive function skills using equity-based frameworks. This Pilot and Feasibility project will develop and test a new participatory, dialogic method that leverages informal family engineering activities to support the development of executive function skills for preschool-age children from Latinx families. The combination of this proposal’s unique engagement of parents as research partners with the study of engineering and executive functions could lay the foundation for a promising program of future equity-focused research.Three research questions will guide the study: 1) What knowledge, assets, and practices already exist within Latinx families related to these executive function skills? 2) What aspects of executive function skills can be supported through informal family engineering activities? and 3) What are promising design strategies for adapting informal family engineering activities to highlight family assets and support executive function skills for young children? To address these questions, the project team will engage Latinx parents in a dialogue series in which parents are central collaborators, sharing their in-depth perspectives and partnering with researchers to develop conceptual frameworks and new approaches. Data generated through these ongoing discussions will be analyzed using (a) qualitative, participatory approaches, including iterative co-development and refinement of emergent themes with parents, (b) detailed inductive coding of parent dialogue group discussions using grounded theory techniques, and (c) retrospective analysis at the end of the project. The parent dialogue series will be supported by a systematic literature review examining the intersections between engineering design, executive function, and the strengths and assets within Latinx families. The results of the exploratory research will include a (1) conceptual framework co-developed with parents that highlights promising opportunities and design strategies for using family engineering design activities to support executive function skills for preschool-age children from Latinx families and (2) research agenda outlining questions and priorities for future work that reflect the goals and interests of this community. Aligned with project’s equity approach, the team will work collaboratively with project partners and families for dissemination, focusing on amplifying community voices, sharing challenges and successes, and supporting improvements in the local community. Results will also be broadly shared with educators and researchers to advance knowledge and promote new equitable approaches to collaborating with parents from Latinx communities.This Pilots and Feasibility project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.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.