Using Ethnography to Enhance Elementary Teachers' Readiness to Teach Engineering

Abstract This abstract presents an overview of and initial research findings from the summer professional development work conducted as part of a National Science Foundation Research in the Formation of Engineers project. The overall goal of the project is to increase awareness and preparedness of rural and indigenous youth to pursue engineering and engineering related careers. To reach this goal, we are working with elementary pre and in-service teachers in rural and reservation communities to connect local funds of knowledge with classroom curriculum. More specifically, the first phase is on training participating teachers, whereas the second phase will be on supporting their implementation of the engineering curricula. The first summer professional development focused on two items: (1) training elementary teachers and pre-service teachers in ethnographic methods and photo journal elicitation, and (2) introducing teachers to different ways to integrate engineering instruction into their teaching. Summer professional development was presented in a blended manner, consisting of asynchronous Google Classroom work and synchronous Webex meetings. The Google Classroom work included modules on ethnography, qualitative coding, and an introduction to an open-source STEM unit combining technology, engineering, and science. During the ethnography module, teachers completed a book study of Ethnographic Eyes: A Teacher's Guide to Classroom Observation, by Carolyn Frank, completed a neighborhood walk of the community where they taught, and practiced ethnographic notetaking while watching videos of elementary classrooms engaged in engineering activities. As part of the qualitative coding module, teachers were introduced to an Adobe Spark photo journal prompt that the research team had previously developed and piloted. The prompt was designed to identify what participants viewed as examples of engineering in their communities. Teachers were given example Adobe Spark photo projects, as well as an a priori codebook, and went through a series of guided and individual coding exercises. The goal of the activities was to prepare teachers to code their students' photo journal prompts to gain a better understanding of how those students view engineering around them. The final module provided teachers with an exploration of a developmentally-appropriate STEM unit that served as an example of how to infuse engineering and technology into commonly taught science curriculum. After engaging in the summer professional development, the teachers worked on fall implementation plans for their individual classrooms. For this first phase of the larger study, multiple pieces of data were collected from participants, including surveys, written Google Classroom assignments, reflections, and implementation plans. All synchronous sessions were video recorded and transcribed for qualitative data analysis, which is currently underway to answer the following research questions: (1) How can engaging in ethnographic practices support teachers' readiness to teach engineering that is situated within locally relevant contexts? and (2) How can engaging in the photo journal process support teachers' readiness to identify locally relevant engineering contexts that can be support their engineering teaching? The full paper will present a detailed overview of the summer professional development and results of initial data analysis.