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

拉丁裔在工程领域的代表性不足是工程教育界多年来广泛讨论的一个话题。尽管拉丁裔人口持续增长，而且越来越多的拉丁裔人正在上大学，但这一人口在工程专业获得的学位仍然很低。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”。对谁属于工程专业的狭隘概念未能认识和承认拉丁裔学生的物质现实和生活经历，以及他们对工程知识建设的贡献。通常情况下，拉丁裔学生的学历和证明被认为是一种缺陷，而不是属于工程领域的资产。虽然针对工程专业拉丁裔学生的研究范围很广，但目前的方法缺乏内部视角和方法，无法从基于资产的角度（重新）框架和（重新）定义关于拉丁裔的研究方法。在不了解拉丁裔学生的语言、文化、实践或信仰体系的情况下，过去的研究人员对拉丁裔和其他边缘化学生群体的思维和学术工作产生了错误的看法。为了纠正这些错误的观点，有必要验证拉丁裔工程专业学生的日常生活经历，并承认他们是知识的持有者和创造者。本研究旨在为更多关注拉丁裔工程专业学生生活经历的文化响应教育工作者和研究人员的发展提供一条途径。我们的目标是通过设计一个框架来提供更多关于如何支持边缘化的工程专业学生的信息，该框架支持通过转换学习，同时承认conconciiento和奖状是工程知识生成的形式。这项工作有助于不断增长的知识体系，这些知识与以学生为中心的倡议、工程领域的多样化以及可能延续或减轻拉丁裔工程学生所面临和感知的逆境的制度实践有关。这项分三个阶段的多地点人种志研究旨在(1)探索拉丁人理解工程中的不良经历时的“共生”概念，(2)识别和分析工程中排斥性话语的结构性障碍和模式，以及(3)开发一个整合拉丁认识论和方法的模型，以扩展基于资产和文化的工程教育研究和教学方法。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，以揭示谁可以被视为知识生产者的传统学术观念。这篇分析论述了拉丁裔工程专业学生如何在他们的工程之旅中进行谈判，并使他们的生活经历变得有意义，同时记录了他们的共生关系。第二阶段包括对制度规范的分析，以及这些规范是如何传达和（重新）产生的，以确定制度实践可能延续或减轻拉丁裔工程专业学生所面临和感知的逆境的不同形式。最后，第三阶段涉及方法的发展，这些方法有助于（重新）构建基于资产的工程教育研究和教学方法。本研究提供了由拉丁裔撰写并为拉丁裔撰写的方法论方法，以理论化和分析系统障碍、阻力、坚持和代理，作为培养工程教育包容性文化的一种方式，并扩大拉丁裔工程学生的参与和学术成就。从这项研究中产生的证词、结论和方法支持了全国范围内拉丁裔工程专业学生的宣传工作，并帮助打破了拉丁裔大统一体的神话，以防止再现拉丁裔具有固定社会结构的叙述，这种叙述干扰了增加工程领域拉丁裔人数的举措的有效性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

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.