Expanding Access to Informal STEM Learning Environments in the Best and Worst of Times

• In Event: Informal Learning Is Not Canceled: Research and Program Implementation During a Global Pandemic

Abstract

The NYU Metro Center’s 2020 report on culturally responsive and sustainable remote teaching highlights the importance of access and co-constructing education with students, families, communities, and schools. This poster considers our educational responsibility to expand informal STEM learning environments (STEM-ILE) access for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children and families, both in STEM-ILE themselves and when bridging in-school and STEM-ILE experiences, in the context of a global pandemic.

STEM-ILEs facilitate family participation in science practices, engaging children in scientific thinking and science processes (Crowley & Callanan, 1998; Haden, 2010)—learning that occurs through social interactions (Vygotsky, 1978), mediated by language practices (Ash, 2003). While research focusing explicitly on CLD families in STEM-ILE is sparse, K-12 STEM education research indicates the importance of building partnerships and pipelines both between schools and universities (Avendano et al., 2019) and focusing specifically on language (including language variation) in STEM learning (Mallinson & Charity Hudley, 2014) to engage CLD students. Bridging formal and informal STEM learning, particularly in a time of social distancing, can promote integration of students’ cultural and linguistic funds of knowledge (Moll et al., 1992), knowledge from their homes, communities and experiences, with STEM classroom education.

This poster examines our evolving process in promoting access to STEM-ILE for CLD families over two years (Y1, Y2) each with two waves (W), including Y2 data collected before (BC) and after COVID19 (AC) disruptions to classroom instruction and aquarium access. We ask, “How can we promote greater CLD families participation in STEM-ILE research?” and “What challenges to participation in ILE research, and especially equity in access, does physical distancing pose?”

Using descriptive statistical analysis, we explore four pools of participant demographic data. For Y1W1, researchers cold-recruited a convenience sample at a local aquarium, selecting all families who agreed to participate. After W1, the sample skewed heavily White so the lead researcher instructed research assistants to attempt stratified sampling with a greater emphasis on inviting CLD families to participate (Y1W2). The Y2BC wave again used cold recruitment with an emphasis on stratified sampling to oversample CLD families from the outset. Finally, for the Y2AC wave, participants were selected from strategically recruited CLD classroom sites. Although all students/families in focal grade levels were invited to participate, the sample ultimately included only those who completed the virtual aquarium activity.

Results revealed several factors potentially impacting family participation, both in STEM-ILE and within CLD schools, including cost of STEM-ILE admission, family language background, recruitment team demographics, and field trip scheduling that privileges non-working class families. Technology access issues, especially during social distancing, also impacted participant recruitment. Findings indicate the importance of attending to CLD samples in both STEM-ILE cold-recruitment and in choosing classrooms for STEM-ILE bridge projects and the intentionality necessary to expand STEM-ILE access. Researchers’ responsibilities go beyond providing opportunities and incentives, to include expanding representation on their research teams, actively recruiting and affirming CLD families, and ensuring access to transportation and/or technology to facilitate engagement and mitigate barriers to participation for CLD families.

Authors

• Betina Hsieh, California State University - Long Beach

• Kimberly Reynolds Kelly, California State University - Long Beach

• Grace Ocular, California State University - Long Beach