2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Recent research has documented how talking about science and engineering concepts with family and friends, particularly parents and siblings, is one of the most influential informal learning experiences for an individual’s identity development and pursuit of a career in STEM. This research points to the home environment and family connections as another, and perhaps an alternative, context to support the development and growth of youth’s identity in STEM compared to more formal (e.g., classrooms) and non-formal (e.g., museums, libraries) contexts. To build upon this research, the goal of this study was to examine the use of the Remind app as a way to get family members with a child in grades 2–5 talking about engineering and engineers in their home and community environments. This resource exchange will focus on (a) how to develop and implement an overall process of using the Remind app as a research tool with family participants; and (b) the pros and cons of using the Remind app.