Fundamental Literacies in English Learners' Engineering Design Work

• In Event: 16.059 - Poster Session 2
  In Poster Session: 16.059-2 - Division C Section 1e: Discourse in Elementary School Computer Science and Engineering Education

Abstract

In this nine-month ethnographic study, the authors followed adolescent English learners as they sought to solve problems in their communities through engineering design processes. In this paper, we focus on the ways that the participants used fundamental literacies (reading and writing skills) to address the problems. A constant comparative analysis of the data revealed that the application of literacy skills enhanced the adolescents’ final designs, while their engineering activity was limited when they did not apply literacy skills. Implications of the study include offering literacy instruction to adolescent English learners as part of high school engineering courses.

Authors

• Amy Alexandra Wilson, Utah State University

• Joel Alejandro Mejia, Angelo State University

• Christina Marie Sias, Utah State University