Epistemic Supports of Parents During an Engineering Task Within Home Environments

• In Event: Teachers, Instructors, and Parents in Computing and Engineering Education

Abstract

Considering the lack of representational diversity in engineering and the critical role of parents on children’s STEM development, this research explores how epistemic supports are utilized by parents when supporting children as engineering learners. Epistemic supports are defined as the knowledge claims and questions that parents assert, contest, and defend within interactions with their child. This research draws upon sociocultural perspectives to explore guided participation of four parent-child dyads during a shared endeavor of developing a rain gauge using a low-cost researcher-developed engineering kit. Employing an intrinsic case study, this study demonstrates three epistemic supports utilized by parents –epistemic check-ins, epistemic questions, and epistemic challenges. These epistemic supports extend current scholarship regarding out-of-school family interactions in the field of engineering.

Authors

• Amber Simpson, Binghamton University - SUNY
  Presenting Author

• Soo Hyeon Kim, Indiana University - Purdue University at Indianapolis
  Presenting Author