Hybrid Practices and Developing Expertise in Engineering Among Middle School Students

• In Event: 63.036 - Young People Shaping Science Practice in and out of Classrooms: Implications for Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Purpose: Students enter science learning with unique “repertoires of practice” (Gutierrez & Rogoff, 2003). How youth explore the formal terrain of science using their repertoires of practice towards productive and transformative ends – e.g., for their own learning and identity work and that of others – is not well understood. What we do know, however, is that the horizontal movement of ideas, tools, and resources (Engestrom & Sannino, 2010) across settings (e.g., home, communities), and the resulting emergent hybrid practices, can serve critical roles in fostering more expansive learning in science. Our investigation asks: How do youth re/create “science/engineering work” (e.g., practices taken up and artifacts produced) in ways that bridge community and epistemic knowledge/practices? How does such re/created work shape how youth see themselves and are recognized as being engineering experts?

Conceptual framework: We conceptualize learning science as situated within local practice, a result of the complex interactions between “agent, activity and the world” (p.33), involving both vertical (disciplinary) and horizontal (cross-community) movement (Engestrom & Sannino, 2010). Such movement shapes the pathways that youth author, including the outcomes of learning (e.g., forms of participation, identity work, dynamics of the learning community itself). We also consider the layered power context(s) involved in learning/doing (e.g., how actors are positioned, what/how resources are legitimized).

Methods: Our study is grounded in longitudinal case studies of 12 youth who have participated in an out-of-school engineering club focused on designing solutions for community concerns. Data were generated from artifacts, youth conversation groups, and video analysis capturing youth interaction with science/engineering and community experts at various stages in their design process. We analyzed if/how/when students merged community and epistemic knowledge/practices towards defining problems/solutions, nature of practices, and the role of epistemic expertise in them, and its impact on student learning and identity work.

Findings: The shared goal of creating engineering design prototypes for solving community problems incorporated both social and technological dimensions, facilitating generative movement between (and bridging among) different epistemic practices and worlds. Youth routinely engaged in bi-directional boundary crossing/blurring, which allowed for the formation, legitimization, sharing and re-purposing of hybrid ideas, practices and identities. One case we discuss in depth involves Anna’s work prototyping a solar-powered “fan-hat” intended to help community members attend churches with no air-conditioner. Anna’s community insider knowledge served to frame the design problem and solutions by a) making technical decisions, b) explaining/receiving feedback from technical/content experts, and iteratively refining the design. The re/working of science/engineering increased positive recognition from both experts and community members alike, fostering a sense of agency towards incorporating engineering into community activities.

Significance: Our study relates to the symposium theme “students’ role as epistemic agents” by speaking to how/why youth seek to bridge engineering in the community with the epistemic practices of the discipline. Understanding these linkages (and acts to purposefully not link) may provide insight into supporting horizontal movement towards learning in STEM.

Authors

• Christina Restrepo Nazar, Michigan State University

• Angela Calabrese Barton, Michigan State University

• Myunghwan Shin, Michigan State University

• Day W Greenberg, Michigan State University