Inventors emerging in-school and out-of-school: six iterations of educational design to promote equitable student engagement

Invention education is an emerging field that shows promise for fostering equitable student engagement, especially related to disciplines of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM), in both classroom and informal learning. A central concept for practitioners, researchers, and...

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Main Authors: David W. Jackson, Helen Zhang, Christian K. Asante, Amy R. Semerjian, G. Michael Barnett, Stephanie Couch, Leigh Estabrooks, Jeffrey Kiel, Neema Kulkarni
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2024-02-01
Series:Frontiers in Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2024.1287521/full
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author David W. Jackson
Helen Zhang
Christian K. Asante
Amy R. Semerjian
G. Michael Barnett
Stephanie Couch
Leigh Estabrooks
Jeffrey Kiel
Neema Kulkarni
author_facet David W. Jackson
Helen Zhang
Christian K. Asante
Amy R. Semerjian
G. Michael Barnett
Stephanie Couch
Leigh Estabrooks
Jeffrey Kiel
Neema Kulkarni
author_sort David W. Jackson
collection DOAJ
description Invention education is an emerging field that shows promise for fostering equitable student engagement, especially related to disciplines of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM), in both classroom and informal learning. A central concept for practitioners, researchers, and evaluators, student engagement connects with academic, socioemotional, career, and civic success. Nonetheless, more work is needed to ensure more equitable approaches to educational design for student engagement, especially with youth of one or more minoritized identity markers (e.g., Black, Brown, or Indigenous youth; female or non-binary youth; youth from lower socioeconomic statuses; etc.). This Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy article describes six iterations of educational designs for invention education with grades 6–8 classes and camps. Three of the iterations revised the same curriculum for grade 7 classes (N ~ 160 students/year), and the other three iterations involved similar yet distinct curricula for grades 6–8 camps (N ~ 25 students/year). Taking a cultural psychology approach to design-based research, we conducted a phenomenological mixed-methods study for convergence. That is, we iteratively refined educational designs within given microcultures, and we sought to better understand participants’ lived experiences. We share evidence of high affective, behavioral, and cognitive engagement, within and between both individual and social levels, alongside development of self-efficacy with respect to ability beliefs and anxiety management. With a few exceptions, our findings suggest equitable participation of youth. These findings we connect with educational design considerations, including individual vs. social supports, explicit attention to youths’ hobbies and peer-inventors, and formative assessment that broadens response scales and gradations of challenge. Our work supports a more nuanced and socially-situated six-dimensional framework for student engagement, expanding upon commonly-used three-and four-dimensional models. We conclude with local and transferrable implications, towards the main goal of fostering equitable student engagement in science and engineering through invention education.
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spelling doaj.art-69087d89c65b43449d8fe414b68eb74f2024-02-13T14:01:08ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Education2504-284X2024-02-01910.3389/feduc.2024.12875211287521Inventors emerging in-school and out-of-school: six iterations of educational design to promote equitable student engagementDavid W. Jackson0Helen Zhang1Christian K. Asante2Amy R. Semerjian3G. Michael Barnett4Stephanie Couch5Leigh Estabrooks6Jeffrey Kiel7Neema Kulkarni8Graduate School of Education, University at Buffalo (SUNY), Buffalo, NY, United StatesLynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, United StatesCollege of Natural Sciences, California State University, Chico, CA, United StatesLynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, United StatesLynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, United StatesLemelson-MIT Program, Cambridge, MA, United StatesLemelson-MIT Program, Cambridge, MA, United StatesWaltham Public Schools, Waltham, MA, United StatesWaltham Public Schools, Waltham, MA, United StatesInvention education is an emerging field that shows promise for fostering equitable student engagement, especially related to disciplines of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM), in both classroom and informal learning. A central concept for practitioners, researchers, and evaluators, student engagement connects with academic, socioemotional, career, and civic success. Nonetheless, more work is needed to ensure more equitable approaches to educational design for student engagement, especially with youth of one or more minoritized identity markers (e.g., Black, Brown, or Indigenous youth; female or non-binary youth; youth from lower socioeconomic statuses; etc.). This Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy article describes six iterations of educational designs for invention education with grades 6–8 classes and camps. Three of the iterations revised the same curriculum for grade 7 classes (N ~ 160 students/year), and the other three iterations involved similar yet distinct curricula for grades 6–8 camps (N ~ 25 students/year). Taking a cultural psychology approach to design-based research, we conducted a phenomenological mixed-methods study for convergence. That is, we iteratively refined educational designs within given microcultures, and we sought to better understand participants’ lived experiences. We share evidence of high affective, behavioral, and cognitive engagement, within and between both individual and social levels, alongside development of self-efficacy with respect to ability beliefs and anxiety management. With a few exceptions, our findings suggest equitable participation of youth. These findings we connect with educational design considerations, including individual vs. social supports, explicit attention to youths’ hobbies and peer-inventors, and formative assessment that broadens response scales and gradations of challenge. Our work supports a more nuanced and socially-situated six-dimensional framework for student engagement, expanding upon commonly-used three-and four-dimensional models. We conclude with local and transferrable implications, towards the main goal of fostering equitable student engagement in science and engineering through invention education.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2024.1287521/fullstudent engagementinvention educationscience educationengineering educationmiddle schoolclassroom learning
spellingShingle David W. Jackson
Helen Zhang
Christian K. Asante
Amy R. Semerjian
G. Michael Barnett
Stephanie Couch
Leigh Estabrooks
Jeffrey Kiel
Neema Kulkarni
Inventors emerging in-school and out-of-school: six iterations of educational design to promote equitable student engagement
Frontiers in Education
student engagement
invention education
science education
engineering education
middle school
classroom learning
title Inventors emerging in-school and out-of-school: six iterations of educational design to promote equitable student engagement
title_full Inventors emerging in-school and out-of-school: six iterations of educational design to promote equitable student engagement
title_fullStr Inventors emerging in-school and out-of-school: six iterations of educational design to promote equitable student engagement
title_full_unstemmed Inventors emerging in-school and out-of-school: six iterations of educational design to promote equitable student engagement
title_short Inventors emerging in-school and out-of-school: six iterations of educational design to promote equitable student engagement
title_sort inventors emerging in school and out of school six iterations of educational design to promote equitable student engagement
topic student engagement
invention education
science education
engineering education
middle school
classroom learning
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2024.1287521/full
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