2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Engineering Learning among Black and Latinx/e/a/o Students: Considering Language and Culture to Reengineer Learning Environments

Presented at Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM) Technical Session 13

This conceptual paper explores language and cultural resources as forms of multicompetence for engaging in engineering epistemologies (what we know) and practices (what we do). The need for a more diverse pool of engineers to tackle the complex challenges facing society is undeniable, but stereotypes about the discipline can create alienation among many students and undermine efforts to build a more inclusive profession. Drawing on scholarship from engineering education, science education, and learning sciences, this paper argues that the resources of Multicompetent Learners (ML), who have acquired valuable experiences and knowledge through social interaction within their communities, are valuable for engineering learning environments. By leveraging the language and cultural resources that students bring with them, engineering education can better prepare learners to develop solutions and knowledge that serve a diverse population. This work underscores the critical role of language and cultural resources in helping students be heard, seen, and understood in engineering and illustrate how these resources can help bridge the gap between students' lives and engineering. The paper further explores the multidimensional nature of language and cultural resources and how students draw on different sets of talk depending on the context, whether near or distal from the activity at hand. It contends that without a deeper understanding of the role of non-dominant ways of speaking in the act of becoming and belonging, efforts to diversify engineering will remain elusive. Ultimately, this paper summarizes these ideas through a conceptual model for engineering learning environments that value and leverage the resources that students bring from their communities. By creating more equitable and socially just solutions, engineering education can better serve the needs of diverse populations and ensure that the profession is truly reflective of the communities it serves.

Authors

Dr. Greses Perez http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4737-0888 Tufts University [biography]

Greses Pérez is the McDonnell Family Assistant Professor in Engineering Education in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Tufts University with secondary appointments in Mechanical Engineering and Education. She received her Ph.D. in Learning Sciences and Technology Design with a focus on Engineering Education from Stanford University. As an Afro-Latina engineer and learning scientist, she has dedicated her career to investigating the experiences of Latina/o/x and Black students in engineering.

Her scholarship is particularly focused on the relationship between the language and cultural practices of communities and engineering practices. Through her research, teaching, service and mentoring, she supports traditionally underrepresented students who experience a cultural mismatch between the ways of knowing and speaking in their communities and those in engineering. In addition to her work on culturally relevant learning through emerging technologies, Greses uses mixed methodologies to investigate the strengths multicompetent individuals, whose lives exist between languages and/or cultures, might be able to contribute to the social fabric. Her mission is to expand who is heard and can contribute to the disciplines as society demands professionals with backgrounds as diverse as the challenges we face.

Greses’ scholarship advocates to include the rich trove of insights from multicompetent groups in creating engineering solutions and scientific ideas. Before her time at Stanford, she was a bilingual educator at low-income elementary schools in Texas. As a civil engineer, Greses led EU funded projects in the Caribbean to create educational opportunities for coffee farmers and their families. She also holds two Master’s Degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez and in Education Policy & Leadership from Southern Methodist University, as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo.
Lise Clara Mabour http://orcid.org/0009-0008-0804-7176 Tufts University [biography]

Clara Mabour is a first year STEM Education Ph.D currently researching hip hop as a culturally sustaining method for teaching STEM. She has a bachelor's in environmental science from the University of Florida. Prior to starting her studies at Tufts, Clara taught high school science and research and she ran STEM and invention focused afterschool programs and summer camps in South Florida. Her experience as a Haitian immigrant in South Florida have shaped her teaching approaches research interests. Clara’s research interests focus on the intersection of culture, learner agency, materials, and problem solving in informal and formal K-12 STEM learning spaces.
G. R. Marvez http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6251-4945 Tufts University [biography]

Marvez is a PhD student in the joint STEM Education and Cognitive Sciences program at Tufts University interested in games, language, and controversial discussions. In past research projects, they have worked on the development of virtual simulations for teachers to practice leading controversial discussions. They are interested in ways to prepare teachers to facilitate controversial debates with students in STEM classrooms, such as through simulations and games, on topics such as genetic modification, climate change, and public infrastructure. Marvez has also worked on the development of natural language processing models for assessment and personalized feedback in educational settings. At Tufts, Marvez works with McDonnell Family Assistant Professor Greses Pérez in the CEEO on the development of engineering board games for multilingual students in culturally relevant contexts.
Ymbar Isaias Polanco Pino http://orcid.org/0009-0006-1418-1342 Tufts University [biography]

Ymbar I. Polanco Pino is a Civil and Environmental Engineering Ph.D. student, GEM Fellow, and Provost Leadership Fellow at Tufts University. He received his bachelor’s degree from the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Missouri. As a researcher in the postsecondary Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education space, Ymbar has focused on examining STEM culture's influence on racially and ethnically minoritized students with Dr. Terrell R. Morton and the Justice and Joy Research Team.

Currently, Ymbar is conducting research for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Department of Energy (DOE), alongside Andrew Parker and Dr. Greses Pérez, to enable equity considerations in commercial building energy efficiency programs through data analysis and community engagement. He hopes to continue doing research that supports and creatively engages historically excluded communities within the renewable energy transition. Ymbar is interested in using media and the arts as community-preferred learning approaches to demystify complex scientific concepts, rendering them more accessible, relatable, and engaging. This approach not only enhances community engagement and participation in energy justice initiatives but also contributes to a more inclusive and equitable educational landscape.

Ymbar is a research assistant for Dr. Greses Pérez, Tufts University Professor in Engineering Education, Mechanical Engineering, and Civil and Environmental Engineering.

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