Narrative as a Tool to Create Inclusive Engineering Experiences

• In Event: 47.073 - Weaving Stories Into STEM Learning

Abstract

Objectives: Engineering is a recent addition to K-12 education; the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) now include this discipline. As we introduce engineering into classrooms, we should work to ensure that all groups are invited to participate. Curriculum design can foster equity in engineering education. This poster focuses on how inclusive curriculum design principles related to narrative create learning environments that support engineering and science learning.

Framework: A comprehensive literature review identified reasons why some groups (females, minorities in STEM, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, students receiving special education services, English learners) remain underrepresented in STEM fields (Authors, 2014). To address this, we propose fourteen curriculum design principles that foster equity in engineering classrooms. Grounded in sociocultural theory, they were modified through iterative curriculum design cycles. The curricular design seeks to develop students’ understanding of engineering, while fostering positive academic identities (Brown, 2006). Thus, students’ understanding of both engineering principles and themselves as engineers co-develops (Author1, 2017). The use of narratives introduces students to engineering and connects to them.

Methods: We applied the principles to the design of an elementary engineering curriculum. These included using narratives to develop students’ understanding of the place of engineering in the world; demonstrating how engineering helps people, animals, and society; and introducing role models with diverse demographic characteristics. Each unit began with a storybook set around the world. In it, a child protagonist confronts a problem s/he solves. Students solved a similar problem through hands-on activities. In contrast, a comparison curriculum, developed for research purposes, covered the same material but did not utilize the narrative elements. Our research investigated what effect the inclusive principles have on children’s learning of engineering and science content and their engineering identities.
Data: Our controlled study was randomized at the school level. Over, 14,000 students in 604 grade 3-5 classrooms in 213 schools engaged with one of the curricula. Data collection included instruments that measured students’ general understandings of engineering, unit-specific science and engineering knowledge, engineering interest and attitudes, student engineering journals, and performance assessments. A subset of classrooms were videotaped. Fidelity of implementation and teacher data were also collected. Three-level (student, class, and school) HLM analysis with science and engineering assessments as the outcome was run in M-plus. Additionally, discourse analysis of six of the videotaped classrooms investigated the use and role of the narrative elements.

Results & Significance: Our analysis shows that students using the curriculum with the inclusive principles learn engineering and science topics better than those using the control curriculum (p<.001). These findings hold for most demographic analyses. Qualitative analysis highlights the connection to the narrative and characters that students form—they evoke the story, problem, and population being helped throughout the challenge. Like the character, students cast themselves as engineers and describe the work they do as engineering. The results suggest that carefully constructed narrative contexts can play a powerful role in motivating students, which ultimately can more deeply engage them in classroom work and result in better learning outcomes.

Authors

• Christine M. Cunningham, The Pennsylvania State University

• Cathy Pauline Lachapelle, Museum of Science