Students as Co-Researchers of Invention Education

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Ethnographic Explorations of Community-Based Learning and Becoming

Abstract

This study explores the discursive and social processes through which transdisciplinary invention education opportunities are constructed and taken up by students and their teachers working in teams to create unique and useful technological solutions to problems students identify in their community. Drawing on an ethnographic dataset constructed by student ethnographers embedded within their InvenTeams, we uncovered the complex ecosystem and social processes that impacted student and teacher learning and interactions both locally and nationally. The paper also demonstrates the opportunities and challenges of embedding student ethnographers within their teams and co-researching invention processes and practices in collaboration with outside ethnographers.

Authors

• Audra Skukauskaite, University of Central Florida

• Leigh Estabrooks, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Stephanie Renee Couch, Masschusetts Institute of Technology