Serving the Underserved Amid COVID-19: The Case of a Virtual, Culturally Responsive Summer Engineering Camp

The societal disruptions due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic are well noted, especially in the context of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Absent a concerted effort to sustain hands-on learning opportunities in STEM amid the crisis, the consequences of COVID-19 may exacerbate existing inequities and racial disparities among youth of color further stratifying the STEM fields. In the current study, we applied a mixed-method descriptive case study design, using online learning theory and culturally responsive pedagogy as our conceptual framework, to describe how participants experienced this camp, held online due to disruptions of COVID-19, in the southeastern region of the USA. We also share findings from the implementation of a justice bots project, which enabled participants to connect social justice and engineering. Participants included middle school youth, undergraduate engineering students, and in-service math and science teachers. Data sources entailed focus groups, pre-post surveys, observations, and artifacts. Our results indicated that participants experienced gains in their communication skills, positive changes in attitudes toward STEM for middle school youth, established meaningful connections, and enhanced their technical knowledge. Middle school youth reported enjoying the online summer camp environment, though they had experienced more than a year of education online. Undergraduate engineering students asserted that it was challenging to communicate coding and other technical knowledge virtually but having to do so strengthened their capacity to teach others while honing their own competencies. Lastly, in-service math and science teachers reported a better understanding of the connection between engineering and social justice based on their experiences in the camp. We conclude this article with implications for engineering education

“That Cross-Curricular Business”: The Engineering Design Process in Mathematics and Science Classrooms

The engineering design process (EDP) is one tool teachers can use to facilitate STEM integration. As part of a larger three-year longitudinal research project regarding engineering identity development among middle school youth in a summer robotics outreach program, this study aims to understand teachers’ willingness to incorporate engineering design in their classrooms through an exploration of their perceptions of the EDP, its applications to their subject matter and classroom context, methods of enacting the EDP, and perceived challenges to and supports for doing so. We conducted a qualitative case study and drew our results from focus groups and semi-structured interviews with eight teacher participants. Participants were successful in describing the EDP and its cyclical nature. However, classroom enactment of the EDP was predominantly indirect and often used to solve non-subject-specific classroom problems. Direct enactment was limited to projects already part of the existing curriculum. Issues with instructional resources, lesson planning, time, and student background were the EDP enactment barriers most frequently noted, while supports described were all responses to the identified barriers. The EDP offers a promising way to integrate engineering with math and science. However, additional support is needed for more meaningful classroom enactment of the EDP

Latina/o pre-service teachers' use of language and culture while assisting children in mathematics.

Latina/o pre-service teachers' use of language and culture while assisting children in mathematics

Understanding the practices of mathematics teacher educators who focus on issues of equity

Most mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) would agree that teachers must be prepared to provide equitable mathematics instruction to all their students. However, to date, there is not a wide database regarding the practice of MTEs who play an integral role in this preparation. In this paper we argue that additional information is needed about the approaches in which MTEs have addressed or incorporated equity as a core part of the preparation of teachers. We further argue for the importance of developing a research agenda that examines the practices of MTEs who teach through a lens of equity, the goal of which would be to build models of professional development that prepare and support other MTEs to develop this specialized knowledge.Keywords: mathematics teacher educators, practice, equity, researc

Understanding the practices of mathematics teacher educators who focus on issues of equity

Most mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) would agree that teachers must be prepared to provide equitable mathematics instruction to all their students. However, to date, there is not a wide database regarding the practice of MTEs who play an integral role in this preparation. In this paper we argue that additional information is needed about the approaches in which MTEs have addressed or incorporated equity as a core part of the preparation of teachers. We further argue for the importance of developing a research agenda that examines the practices of MTEs who teach through a lens of equity, the goal of which would be to build models of professional development that prepare and support other MTEs to develop this specialized knowledge.Keywords: mathematics teacher educators, practice, equity, researc

Academic Motherhood in Mathematics Education during COVID-19: Breaking the Silence and Shifting the Discourse

Despite decades of social change and institutional reform, the academic gender gap continues to exist in many countries around the world and disproportionately affects women with children. Early indicators suggest that COVID-19 will widen this gap and exacerbate issues academic mothers face. In this essay we seek to raise awareness to the challenges and tensions academic mothers in mathematics education face both outside of and during a pandemic. We use existing literature on academic motherhood to make sense of our lived experiences, working to reframe pieces that are so often viewed as deficits to assets for our work in mathematics education. We hope that this will bring visibility to the invisible ways our identities as mothers inform our work as mathematics teacher educators and researchers. We conclude this essay with a call for the university-based mathematics education community to break the silence around the inequities associated with academic motherhood in our field and to shift the discourse from deficits of academic mothers to asset orientated views

Working Together: Preparing the Next Generation of Highly Qualified Middle-School STEM Teachers

In response to the demand to produce highly qualified teachers to fill teacher vacancies in high-need middle school areas while simultaneously strengthening the teacher preparation process, this article highlights how an innovative partnership with a very large school district and multiple colleges within a metropolitan university resulted in a collaboration to rethink and retool teacher preparation for the next generation of middle school STEM teachers

Using Collaborative Self-Study Methods to Explore Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Higher Education

This case describes a collaborative self-study of how teacher educators define, enact, and navigate their roles as culturally responsive educators across various programs within a higher education institution. The purpose of the self-study was to answer the overarching question ‘What does it mean to be a culturally responsive educator in higher education?’ Through an in-depth individual interview with each other and a prolonged discussion about the topic, we determined that defining culturally responsive pedagogy in higher education is difficult, modeling culturally responsive pedagogy and building relationships when enacting our philosophical beliefs are central, and that we faced both tensions and opportunities to continuously evolve as culturally responsive educators. As we were engaged in this collaborative self-study, there were several critical moments that allowed us to re-examine ourselves and grow professionally, to receive support from like-minded colleagues, as well as to recognize some systematic issues that warrant further attention. Furthermore, we identified the key factors that we believe were instrumental in making the collaborative self-study a successful experience