Museum Staff, Caregivers, and Preschool Teachers Collaborating to Reimagine Family Engagement in Early STEAM Learning (Poster 6)

• In Event: (Re)Imagining Different Educational Realities: Anti-Deficit Approaches in Informal Learning Environments Research

Abstract

Objectives

Museums and science centers can work to challenge traditional, hierarchical pedagogies by integrating STEM content learning with the knowledge and cultural wealth available within local communities (Kratz & Merritt, 2011). The current study took place in the context of a long-term partnership between a science center and a nearby public preschool in a culturally and linguistically diverse, urban community in the northeast US. The study brought together preschool educators, caregivers, and museum staff to co-design new STEAM enrichment possibilities for young children and their families. 


Theoretical framework

We conceptualized the science center as a third space (Bhabha, 1994; Zeichner, 2010) that can serve as a bridge between formal schooling and the learning occurring among families at home. By creating opportunities for deliberate partnership between caregivers and educators, we aimed to position the science center as both a resource to enrich STEAM learning, and as a space for new forms of ideation and co-design within the partnership. We also drew on understandings of ecological systems (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) to explore the ways that learning is connected to space, time, context, and culture (Barron, 2006), and the role of the science center within families’ larger learning ecosystems. Finally, we took a strengths-based perspective by positioning caregivers as experts and seeking out opportunities to reimagine family engagement from caregivers’ perspectives. 



Modes of inquiry

A collaborative group including caregivers, preschool educators, and museum staff began holding monthly co-design meetings in February, 2023 (with six meetings to date). Meetings involved: 1) Discussing our understandings, perceptions, and prior experiences with STEAM learning, 2) Empathizing with caregivers’ experiences through collaborative interpretation of interviews with caregivers of preschool-aged children, and by recognizing caregivers’ daily needs and priorities; 3) Co-creating a vision for family engagement and shared goals for early STEAM learning; and 4) Brainstorming ideas for culturally responsive programs, exhibitions, and partnerships the museum could develop for caregivers of young children. 



Emerging findings

Through this co-design process, the group has begun to define a shared vision for family engagement that directly builds on caregivers’ lived experiences and makes connections across school, museum, and home settings. Emerging themes in these discussions included using cultural traditions to ground STEAM programming in families’ own knowledge, emphasizing art within STEAM to create space for multiple ways of learning, and centering socio-emotional aspects of learning, which emerged as a priority among both caregivers and teachers. By the conference date, these themes will be developed further through additional co-design meetings. 

Significance

These collaborative efforts are building new knowledge about the interplay of formal and informal learning experiences in the lives of culturally and linguistically diverse families, as well as the roles that science centers can play in supporting young children and their caregivers across educational settings and over time. By directly involving caregivers in developing new family engagement initiatives, this project also challenges traditional notions of how caregivers “should” be involved in young children’s learning, creating space to reimagine how preschools, science centers, and families can work together to strengthen local learning ecosystems. 

Authors

• Franklin S. Aucapina, New York Hall of Science

• Diana Ballesteros, Graduate Center - CUNY

• Delia Meza, New York Hall of Science

• Jasmine Maldonado, New York Hall of Science

• Sarah Ketani, New York Hall of Science

• Susan M. Letourneau, New York Hall of Science