CAREER: Breaking the Tradition of Silence through Conocimiento and Consciousness Raising among Latinx Engineers

职业生涯：通过拉丁裔工程师的Conocimiento和意识提升打破沉默的传统

• 批准号: 2151404
• 负责人: Joel Mejia
• 金额: $ 57.94万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at San Antonio
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-10-01 至 2025-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2151404&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Breaking; Tradition; Silence; through

Latinx underrepresentation in engineering is a topic that has been widely discussed in engineering education circles for many years. Although the Latinx population continues to grow and more Latinx are attending college, the degree attainment for this population in engineering continues to be low. Different scholars have argued that Latinx students do not pursue engineering careers because the cultures of students do not fit the “cultures of engineering.” The narrow conceptualization of who belongs in engineering has failed to recognize and acknowledge the material realities and lived experiences of Latinx students and their contribution to knowledge construction in engineering. Oftentimes, the conocimiento and testimonio of Latinx students is perceived as a deficit rather than an asset that belongs in engineering. While there is a broad range of research that addresses Latinx students in engineering, the current approaches are devoid of the insider perspectives and methodologies needed to (re)frame and (re)define the ways of doing research about and with Latinx from an asset-based perspective. Without understanding the language, culture, practices, or belief systems of Latinx students, researchers in the past have come to deficit views of Latinx and other marginalized student groups’ thinking and academic work. To counter these deficit views, it is necessary to validate the everyday life experiences of Latinx engineering students and recognize them as holders and creators of knowledge. This study seeks to provide a pathway for the development of more culturally responsive educators and researchers that attend to the lived experiences of Latinx engineering students. The goal is to provide more information on how to support marginalized engineering students by designing a framework that supports learning through transformation while acknowledging conocimiento and testimonio as forms of knowledge generation in engineering. This work contributes to the growing body of knowledge related to student-centered initiatives, the diversification of the engineering field, and the identification of institutional practices that may perpetuate or alleviate the adversity faced and perceived by Latinx students in engineering. This three-phase multi-sited ethnographic study seeks to (1) explore the concept of conocimiento as Latinxs make sense of adverse experiences in engineering, (2) identify and analyze the structural barriers and modes of exclusionary discourse in engineering, and (3) develop a model that integrates Latinx epistemologies and methodologies to expand asset-based and culturally responsive approaches to engineering education research and teaching. Phase 1 of the study focuses on the collection and analysis of the testimonios of Latinx engineering students to unravel traditional academic ideas of who may be considered a producer of knowledge. This analysis addresses how Latinx engineering students negotiate and make meaning of their lived experiences as they go through their engineering journey while documenting their conocimiento. Phase 2 consists of an analysis of institutional norms and how these are communicated and (re)produced to identify the different forms in which institutional practices may perpetuate or alleviate the adversity faced and perceived by Latinx engineering students. Finally, Phase 3 involves the development of methodologies that contribute to the (re)framing of asset-based approaches to engineering education research and teaching. This study provides methodological approaches written by and for Latinxs to theorize and analyze systemic barriers, resistance, persistence, and agency as a way to foster a culture of inclusivity in engineering education, and broaden the participation and academic attainment of Latinx engineering students. The testimonios, conocimiento, and methodologies emerging from this study support advocacy work for Latinx engineering students across the nation, and help dismantle the myth of the Latinx monolith to prevent reproducing the narrative that Latinxs have fixed social configurations, which interferes with the effectiveness of initiatives to increase the number of Latinxs in engineering.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.

拉丁裔在工程中的代表性不足是工程教育界多年来广泛讨论的话题。虽然拉丁裔人口继续增长，越来越多的拉丁裔正在上大学，但这一人口在工程学方面的学位获得率仍然很低。不同的学者认为，拉丁裔学生不追求工程职业，因为学生的文化不适合“工程文化”。谁属于工程的狭隘概念化没有认识到和承认的物质现实和拉丁裔学生的生活经验，以及他们对工程知识建设的贡献。通常情况下，拉丁学生的conocimiento和testimonio被视为赤字，而不是属于工程的资产。虽然有一个广泛的研究，解决工程学的Latinx学生，目前的方法是缺乏内部的观点和方法需要（重新）框架和（重新）定义做研究的方式和与Latinx从基于资产的角度。由于不了解拉丁裔学生的语言、文化、习俗或信仰体系，过去的研究人员对拉丁裔和其他边缘化学生群体的思想和学术工作缺乏了解。为了应对这些赤字的观点，有必要验证Latinx工程专业学生的日常生活经验，并认识到他们作为知识的持有者和创造者。本研究旨在提供一种途径，为发展更具文化敏感性的教育工作者和研究人员，参加拉丁美洲工程学生的生活经历。其目标是提供更多的信息，如何支持边缘化的工程专业学生，通过设计一个框架，支持通过转型学习，同时承认conocimiento和testimonio作为知识生成的形式在工程。这项工作有助于相关的知识越来越多的身体以学生为中心的举措，工程领域的多样化，并确定机构的做法，可能会延续或减轻所面临的逆境，并认为拉丁美洲学生在工程。这三个阶段的多站点民族志研究旨在（1）探索conocimiento的概念，因为拉丁人在工程中的不利经验是有意义的，（2）识别和分析的结构性障碍和模式的排他性话语在工程，（3）开发一个模型，集成拉丁认识论和方法，以扩大基于资产和文化响应的方法，工程教育研究和教学。该研究的第一阶段侧重于收集和分析拉丁裔工程专业学生的证词，以解开谁可以被认为是知识生产者的传统学术思想。这种分析解决了拉丁美洲工程专业的学生如何谈判，使他们的生活经验的意义，因为他们通过他们的工程之旅，同时记录他们的conocimiento。第二阶段包括对制度规范的分析，以及这些规范是如何传播和（重新）产生的，以确定制度实践可能延续或减轻拉丁美洲工程专业学生所面临和感知的逆境的不同形式。最后，第三阶段涉及的方法，有助于（重新）制定基于资产的方法，工程教育研究和教学的发展。这项研究提供了方法论的方法，并为拉丁裔理论化和分析系统性障碍，阻力，持久性和机构作为一种方式，以促进工程教育的包容性文化，并扩大拉丁裔工程学生的参与和学术成就。从这项研究中出现的testimonios，conocimiento和方法支持全国各地拉丁裔工程专业学生的宣传工作，并帮助拆除拉丁裔巨石的神话，以防止再现拉丁裔具有固定社会配置的叙述，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得支持通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。

项目成果

Exploring the racialization of Latinos/as/xs in the U.S. Southwest and its implications on deficit ideologies in engineering education

探索美国西南部拉丁裔/as/xs 的种族化及其对工程教育赤字意识形态的影响

• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Frontiers in Education
• 影响因子: 2.3
• 作者: Mejia, Joel A

Conocimiento as a Framework: Promoting a Culturally Affirming Identity Development for Latinx Engineers

Conocimiento 作为框架：促进拉丁裔工程师的文化肯定身份发展

• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
• 作者: Mejia, Joel A.

Exploring Racialized Ideologies About Latino/A/X Engineering Students In The United States Southwest Region

探索美国西南部地区拉丁裔/A/X 工程专业学生的种族化意识形态

• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI
• 作者: Mejia, Joel A

LEGITIMIZED TONGUES: BREAKING THE TRADITIONS OF SILENCE IN MAINSTREAM ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

合法化的语言：打破主流工程教育和研究的沉默传统

• DOI: 10.1615/jwomenminorscieneng.2022036603
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering
• 作者: Mejia, Joel Alejandro;Alarcón, Idalis Villanueva;Mejia, Janice;Revelo, Renata A.
• 通讯作者: Revelo, Renata A.