Board 104: Asset-based Practices in Engineering Design (APRENDE): Development of a Funds-of-Knowledge Approach for the Formation of Engineers

Abstract

Diego. His current research investigates how the integration of funds of knowledge and engineering design can serve as a pathway to and through engineering. Dr. Mejia is particularly interested in how Latinx adolescents bring forth unique ways of knowing, doing, and being that provide them with particular ways of framing, approaching, and solving engineering problems. Dr. Mejia's primary research interests lie at the intersection of engineering education and social justice. He is particularly interested in the integration of Chicanx Cultural Studies frameworks and pedagogies in engineering education, and critical consciousness in engineering through social justice.

Exploring adolescents' occupational possible selves: The role of gender and socioeconomic status

“…Providing opportunities for female students to engage with female role models who have achieved success in various careers while also meeting family obligations could help strengthen their self‐efficacy and outcome expectations while also conveying that such careers are possible for women. Future research that investigates the relations between expectation of career‐family priorities, self‐efficacy beliefs, sources of self‐efficacy, and career‐related actions may help test this hypothesis and deepen our understanding of this interaction effect (see Jiang et al., 2021; Mejia et al., 2019).…”

Give and gain: Black engineering students as near‐peer mentors

“…Funds of knowledge are framework based on marginalized families and students, generated from an ethnographic study of working‐class Mexican families in the US–Mexico borderlands (Moll et al, 1992). This asset‐based approach has been increasingly popular in engineering education to frame studies of marginalized students and intends to improve their experiences and outcomes, and improve their teaching and learning approaches (Denton & Borrego, 2021; Mejia et al, 2019; Mejia et al, 2021; Verdin et al, 2016; Verdín et al, 2019). Studies of funds of knowledge are usually exploratory and inductive (Denton & Borrego, 2021; Verdin et al, 2016), which fits well with the interpretive paradigm anchoring this study.…”

Asset-based Approaches to Engineering Design Education: A Scoping Review of Theory and Practice

“…• Expanding the criteria and metrics for admission into engineering programs that go beyond standardized test scores (e.g., semi-structured interviews to better understand prospective students' strengths and characteristics [53]), coupled with rigorous cohort-based curricular and co-curricular activities during the first year in the program [53], [54], [55]. • Transformative faculty professional development initiatives (e.g., incentivized crossinstitutional faculty communities of practice) to equip engineering educators with tools to identify, appreciate, and integrate students' cultural wealth and funds of knowledge in engineering design education [56].…”