Recentering Asian American Children’s Voices and Transnational Funds of Knowledge Through Virtual Reality

• In Event: The Possibilities of Communal Learning Spaces: Fostering a Sense of Belonging for Asian American Young Children

Abstract

1. Objectives:
In schools and society, Asian American children are often lumped into a monolithic category and stereotyped as model minorities and perpetual foreigners (Lee, 2009), while their unique transnational/multilingual experiences are silenced and ignored. Hence, educational researchers in the last decade have argued for designing an educational space that can (re)center the voices of Asian American children and foreground their multilingual and transnational knowledge (Author, 2022; Ghiso, 2016). Taking a social design experiment approach (Gutiérrez & Jurow, 2016), this study designed and examined an after-school program for Asian American children to explore and represent their transnational and multilingual identities using virtual reality (VR)— “computer-generated environments that stimulate the physical presence of people, objects, and realistic sensory experiences” (Freeman et al., 2017, p. 47)— in order to imagine and discover new forms of learning and reimagining new social futures (Gutiérrez, 2018).

2. Theoretical Framework:
This study is informed by a transnationalism framework that focuses on how immigrants forge and maintain their connections with their homelands and their parental homelands (Basch et al., 1994; Ong, 1999), and the concept of transnational funds of knowledge (Author et al., 2019), which allows researchers to attend to the rich knowledge that children possess that is embedded in transnational networks. Using the concepts of third space and hybridity (Gutiérrez et al., 1999), this study particularly focuses on creating and understanding a learning environment that foregrounds the rich knowledge and experiences of Asian American children particularly their dynamic linguistic, cultural, and geographic border-crossing journeys.

3. Methods of Inquiry:
This social design experiment study took place at a public library in a midwestern state with 6 Asian American children aged between 7 and 9 from immigrant households of different Asian ethnic backgrounds (Korean, Chinese, and Nepalese). The children engaged in curricular opportunities such as creating VR artifacts and multilingual and multimodal stories to share their migration journeys and transnational identities. The study relies on data sources including audio-recordings of classes, transcripts and fieldnotes, student-generated VR and written artifacts, and child-centered interview activities.

4. Findings:
The designed learning environment and the opportunities it offered, such as exploring transnational identities and creating VR artifacts, served as a space of transnational solidarity for the participant children. Leveraging multilingual and transnational knowledge, the children inquired into their Asian American identities and transnational funds of knowledge and creatively presented their stories using VR. Through collective inquiry and exploration, the children critically challenged Asian American stereotypes and provided counter-narratives of their identities and transnational lives. The use of VR helped them create multimodal stories and become immersed in each other’s lived experiences that further helped to share their stories and co-construct a space for transnational funds of knowledge and a sense of belonging.

6. Scholarly Significance:
This paper aligns with the 2024 AERA conference theme by highlighting a culturally sustaining curriculum and space (Paris, 2012) that leverage the diverse forms of transnational expertise of Asian American children and by providing a better understanding of Asian American children’s transnational and multilingual identities.

Author

• Jungmin Kwon, Michigan State University